Sydney to Port Pirie: Part Two of the 2014 Sydney Perth Sydney run

30.08.2014

The 30th of August dawned grey, over cast and threatening rain. We didn't care, it was holiday time and we were pointed at Perth. We wrapped ourselves up in winter warms and headed south. I wasn't going to go through Kangaroo Valley (The interesting way) because it was bloody wet and cold and there had been a storm the night before so there would have been a load of tree shit all over the road, so we hit the freeway and pointed our noses at Eden.

In the first part of the journey I was really more excited for Jicki than me. I have done the route from Sydney to Adelaide several times in several different ways. Jicki has pretty much only every flown between cities (Give or take a few weekend getaways) so almost all of these roads were going to be new for her.

I took a shot of the speedo to be able to show exactly how many km we would end up travelling from coast to coast. This is in the morning as we were loading up.

So the first part of the journey was pretty much just wet, cold, grey and miserable. We reached Nowra and decided to have a bit of a break. Nowra has very few decent places to stay but surprisingly has several very good Cafes. We had been to the Hopper Society Cafe on a previous trip to Nowra (Thanks Lurch!) and had a great meal and coffee so we decided to stop there. I also remembered it had heaters!

Jick warming up

My Precious!

Drying out the helmets, they were soaked at this point

After warming up, sucking back coffee's and drying out we continued on, stopping at Batemans Bay to take pretty pictures of the estuary and the bike.

A Beemer in Batemans!

The run down the coast was pretty uneventful. For a state highway its actually quite a pretty road but its really not that thrilling. I was planning to do a scouting trip for the next International Run in October 2015 to Bermagui so we pulled in there as the sun was beginning to go down. If you can, come to the International, Bermagui is a lovely little town with lots of stuff to do and some great roads. The building below is the Bermagui Beach Hotel which will be one of the accommodation locations.

 A Beemer in Bermagui!

We stopped for the night on the Sapphire Coast in Eden (also know as Bi-Fold bay). If you haven't been I can highly recommend it. Its a great little town with some great eats, a pub with an awesome view and a very nice little motel.

 The view from our room

We dried off, warmed up and headed to the Pub for a very well deserved and very yummy meal and several large beers. Day one was over! 

 01.09.2015 

The next day was everything we were hoping for. It dawned bright blue, completely clear and cloudless. The temperature hit about 20C by 8 in the morning and stayed there. The roads were dry and we were heading up into the mountains that separate New South Wales and Victoria. It was going to be a stunning day!



This route is one of my favorite roads in Australia. Its not a fast road, its not the twistiest I've ever been on, its just a really nice run on a sunny day up through the low lieing mountains and across the border into Victoria.

As Jicki had never been this way we stopped and got the traditional crossing the border pictures.

A Beemer on the Border!

So at this point we are having a superb day, we have had a great breakfast, the weather is perfect for riding. Its a sunny day, its crisp and cool, its a gorgeous blue sky the roads are dry and I am cruising happily on my K1600.

As I am rolling down a short little hill I see a policeman racing out from the side of the road waving his hands in the air. I jammed on everything and pulled up to a stop.

We get off the bike and as soon as I get my helmet off the conversation goes something like this:

VicPol: Do you know why I have pulled you over?

Me: No?

VicPol: Did you see the tapes up the road?

Me: No?

VicPol (an explanation of how the tapes work)

VicPol: Do you know how fast you were going?

Me: No mate, Its a gorgeous day, its a great bike, I'm just cruising, I haven't looked at my speedo at all for a while, we are just cruising (Sweep arm to indicate the bike)

ViCPol: I have detected you at 141km per hour. This is a 100km per hour zone, would you like to see the evidence?

Me: No I believe you, I just wasn't looking at the speedo and we were just having a nice cruise, if I was trying to push it on this bike I would have been going a lot faster than that!

VicPol: (Laughter)

The chap from VicPol was a nice bloke who was hunting a club from the other side of the border and I just happened to run into his trap.

I think he knew I was telling the truth, he was very nice and friendly and he was stunned when I told him this was my first ticket in 30 years of driving. We shook hands and went our separate ways.

A Little Update: I met up with a mate at a party and we were discussing this incident. he asked:
"Didnt you see the $$ signs in spray paint on the side of the road?"
It suddenly struck me that yes I did remember seeing those symbols. Turns out this is a well known revenue gatherer. He could even describe exactly, the piece of road just before the intercept point. I bought the cops bullshit, he was out to make money, nothing more.

A present from Victoria

So we continued on across Victoria (at exactly 5km below the speed limit), stopping at various locations (Including the dunny shown below) until we made it to Torquay.

The intent was to use the freeway system to swing around Melbourne to the North and come down the west side towards Torquay where we were staying for the night. Unfortunately the GPS had a mind of its own and before we knew what we were doing we were coming along the the coast and through the heart of downtown Melbourne traffic.

We made it through despite several Victorian trucks trying their best to kill us and we headed towards Meba's place. We stopped briefly, said hi to Meba, organised to catch up the next day and shot down to the Torquay Holiday park to check in for the night. I have stayed the Torquay Holiday before and found them to be extremely Motorcycle friendly.

We checked in at the camp ground, had showers and headed out to find food. Just down the road from the Holiday park is Sujin Thai, there was no one in the restaurant but the takeaway business was thriving. We decided to sit outside, have a beer and Thai and it was well worth it!.

On several occasions when I have been away on the bike I have this tendency to randomly find really good Thai, in places that you just don't expect it. I discovered Beer Thai Garden in the Gold Coast with Aaron Dawes (The Mango Salad will blow your mind) and Jick and I found Sujin Thai in Torquay Victoria. If you are ever in either area I can highly recommend both spots!.

01.09.2014

The next day dawned bright and clear!
No it didn't I'm lieing, it was dark grey and pissing down when we left Macca's to head into the GOR. We got up early, packed the bike and headed up the road to meet up with Meba on his 'Wing who would be taking us up through the Great Ocean Road.

Now I was really looking forward to this as the last time I came through the GOR we rode through a massive storm, it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience! So although this wasn't a storm we were still riding though a constant grey rain which did take some of the enjoyment away. However, if you are ever in this part of the world and have a bike with you, do it, the GOR is one of the best riding roads in the world. We still both had an awesome day riding the GOR despite the rain.

 The GOR isn't a short road and as as the day passed it would stop raining in places and the sun would start to come out.

and then the rain would start to close in again...

 We are headed straight for that misty bit up ahead...

When you come to the end of what is officially the Great Ocean Road at Apollo Bay, you enter the Otway National Park which most people think is all part of the same thing. The Otway is a Sub Temperate rain forest and is where the GOR starts to climb inland and up into the mountains. This is a stunning part of Victoria that I think most people miss. Even the bikers who just do the GOR backwards and forwards, rarely come up into the Otway's

Warrnambool. There is Gas and Food. Enough said really, Apparently there is a statue in the middle of town that looks like a dirty angel. Seriously, the locals are proud of this. We kept going.

 

We finally crossed the Victorian border and I could start to ride normally again. I stayed below the speed limit and absolutely would not cross that speedo line all the way across Victoria.

The first of very, very many sticky date puddings!

We pulled into Mount Gambier where we were staying for the night. Turned out I had booked one place and told everyone to stay in another cause I am a dumbass. So to be really, really clear for next time, when we stay in Mount Gambier, we stay at the Comfort inn: Silver Birch. The people that run it are really nice and friendly, seriously stay here, not that other place.

Wattsy had also arrived at the Comfort inn and was going to join us for a leg the next day.  (Wattsy and Meba went to the right place, I was the only one going to stay in that other place - repeat yes I am a dumbass)

02.09.2014

We got up and had a lovely breakfast in the dining room and headed out. The day dawned blue skies and clear but cool, perfect riding weather!. We seemed to be through the rain!
We all hooted up the coastal road towards Kingston SE and stopped for coffee at the Big Lobster.

Finding out Wattsy wasn't coming to Perth

Wattsy

It was at this point that I found out that Wattsy wasn't coming to Perth with us. Up until this point I was expecting myself, JR and Wattsy to be doing the trip with Wattsy and me coming back together. It was now I realized that I was facing riding back alone across across Australia. I have done big rides before and I am comfortable doing them, but this was 5 times longer than anything I had done solo up to this point and it was a daunting prospect. I had a lot to think about as Wattsy peeled off to head home to SA and Meba and us headed towards the meetup at Victor Harbor.

A little trick for young players using GPS's in SA. There are 2 different Kingston's in SA. One is called Kingston and the other is actually called Kingston SE. Make sure you set the GPS for the right one! cause they are in very different locations!

We headed along the Princes Highway through the Coorong National Park. Its a nice road, it has some really nice curvey bits, but its really the scenery you go for. Its a huge salt swampland that runs along the coast and its beautiful, especially just after its rained.

We stopped at Salt Creek for some photos. Australia had an oil industry!, who knew?

Beemer in front of an Oil rig!

We rode pretty solid all day and made good time. We stopped at Langhorne Creek, at the Bridge Hotel for what turned out to be rather tasty toasted Sandwich's!

  

Just behind us in the picture above, you can see the exit to the car park. It was at this point I very nearly had a very close encounter with a truck. A very large red truck.

We were slowed up to begin our pull out, I head checked and didn't see anything to my right so we pulled out into the road. As I was accelerating away from the turn at a reasonable pace I noticed a VERY FUCKING BIG red road train who had come round the corner in a 50 zone WAY too fast. It was at this point that I seriously learned to love the Beemer.

I dropped a gear and wound the throttle as tight as I could. The K1600 had been cruising along quite happily for the last several thousand kilometers, it just sat up and took off. Jick nearly came off the back (with the back box on!). I was in 3rd with the front wheel off the road before I knew what had happened and the truck was rapidly receding in my rear vision mirrors.

My god the K1600 can pull when you want it to and in this instance it absolutely saved our lives. I'm sure if we had been on anything less powerful that truck would have left us as a red smear. Meba said he saw me pull out, saw the truck come around the corner and really did think there was about to be a serious problem.

This is also the first time I saw the damn engine warning light come on. This was the first time I learned that you can ride a long way with that light on and that it goes away when you turn the engine off. Worrying about the damn engine light becomes a reoccurring theme for me throughout the trip.

Another trick for young players. If you set your GPS for Wellington SA, the GPS will take you right to the ferry crossing while still telling you that you have about 240km to go. As soon as you cross the ferry to the other side of the Murray River it will tell you you have arrived.

The final cruise into Victor Harbor was leisurely with the exception of an adventure passing a fully laden concrete truck who's air bow nearly blew me off the road.

So we pulled in to the Camp ground and got settled. We headed out for dinner at the local pub which is just a nice amble down the road.

 The Victor Harbor Holiday Park

Sunset along the coast

KM Check

03.09.2014

The weather stayed over cast but the next morning it wasn't raining so we all headed over to Granite Island. I didn't get to do this little tour last time I was in Victor Harbor so I was really looking forward to it. We walked across to the Island from the mainland along the train tracks. 

Granite Island from the mainland

Bronze Penguins

Granite Seal - this looks so real we actually thought it was a seal

The mainland from Granite Island

The rocky coast at the ocean side of the Island

We wandered around the Island for a while and decided to catch the horse drawn tram back along the railway line to the mainland. This is so cool and they look after the horses so well! .

 Horses resting in their little house!

In the afternoon we could hear the rumble of bikes and several of the local Adelaide guys pulled in including Maddog and Wattsy again. It was also the first time on the trip that we saw JR and Leanne who were to be our partners in crime for the whole run.

That night we all went to the pub for dinner, the primary topic of conversation was the wether. A front was pulling in over Adelaide and we weren’t sure what it would bring.

04.09.14

We woke up the next day to grey skies and drizzle, Jick and I really weren't feeling like we were coming out ahead on this trip so far. We had been rained on 4 days out of five and were more than ready for it all to stop.

We packed up and headed north to meet up with River. I initially thought we were going to loop to the east and north of Adelaide and avoid the city. However it became clear we were going to pass directly through the city, in rush hour, on heavily laden bikes, in the rain. I've definitely had better days.

By the time we met River and had a bit to eat it was clearing and we headed towards Port Pirie in lightening skies. By the time we stopped for coffee it was clear blue and getting hotter by the second.

SNOWTOWN

On our way to Port Pirie we passed through some spectacular landscapes with Pink lakes and vast fields of yellow Canola flowers! We stopped to take photos as Jick was fascinated by the Canolafields

FYI if you are ever riding across outback NSW in Spring heading west from Parkes, you can see on one side of the road vast fields of Lavender and on the other side of the road you will see endless canola. In the fields are trees that have shapes mowed around the roots and have deep green grass around them. It’s the most surreal landscape. It’s like riding through a Picasso.

So as we were passing through the area we decided we would stop off at the Snow town bank. If you haven’t seen the movie or read the book you can find details of what happened here. The township is a 30 second diversion from the main road heading west towards Port Pirie. If it wasn't for the nutter who used it to hide bodies it would be a pleasant little small town.

The Body in the Barrel

The Bank (Beemer in front of the Bank!)

This pub is literally to the right and across the road from the middle picture above

Weird Moment: The bank is directly across from the pub, how the hell did nobody see what they were doing?

Weird Moment: We were set up outside the bank taking photos and the guy who now owns the bank and lives in it as a residence, came home and took his rubbish bins in!

We kept on going and stopped at Port Wakefield for coffee.

Weird moment: Riding along the freeway into Port Wakefield behind a house on a truck that was completely covering all the lanes, whole road totally blocked by a house.

Coffee time - The Pies are really good!

The Maddog!

We pulled in to Port Pirie which is a really nice spot along the Spencer gulf. We stayed at Bentleys Caravan Park Port Pirie which is directly opposite the  local sports club where we had dinner. By the time we go to Pirie it was hot enough that all I wanted to do was to sit in the room under the air con and have a nap!.

Dinner time at the Sports Club

Maddog!

River and Meba

Leanne and JR

All the way across South Australia we had started to see these huge silos from a company called Vitterra. The company must be massive and appear to control the movement and storage of grain across Victoria and SA. Every small town and every railway crossing seemed to have one of these huge silo’s.

It all started here... Part One of the 2014 Sydney Perth Sydney run

It all started here...

In early 2013 the lads and ladies of the Australian Boulevards website decided to make a run to Bright in the gorgeous state of Victoria for some riding in the mountains followed by the traditional sharing of a few beers (Not together of course!).

On the first night we were there, after the mandatory checking out each others bikes over a few beers, a friend of mine named J.R looked around and in his quiet, but carrying voice said: "I've been talking to the boys in WA and I'm going to ride over there".
Before I even had a chance to think about it, I had not only volunteered to come along but to help organize the ride as well.

At first glance, this is an insane plan. I had just decided, without any thought at all, to ride an M109 or a C109 Boulevard (The two bikes I owned at the time) over 5000km from Sydney to Perth across the Nullarbor Plain. In the background as I was talking to J.R about this I could hear my wife chiming in "I'm in!" So we were both committed to this ride. As we were chatting, we worked out a date about 15 months ahead, in September. The WA guys had communicated that this was the best time to cross the Nullarbor.

So September 2014, the date was set and quietly announced. Now don't get me wrong, I had some idea of what I was in for. I have done quite a bit of what most people would consider long distance motorcycle riding.

Sydney to Broken Hill is 1100km, Sydney to Mildura is 1000km, taking the coastal route, Sydney to Victor Harbor is 2000km, all of these rides I have done, some multiple times. A day ride to me is 500ish km.

Now I was volunteering to ride over 5000km in one direction, along some of the straightest roads in the world, and back.

I had to ask myself why and over the next couple of months the answer came down to 2 things.
1. I will probably never get another chance like this again. Being able to do an organised ride across territory that is still widely considered dangerous, with other riders as support, was an opportunity not to be missed
2. I've always wanted to be able to say that I have ridden all 6 states of Australia. Technically I consider it 7, NZ just needs to actually join the Federation. The chance to do the kind of kilometers I needed to do, to be able to get to cross the WA border comes along very, very rarely and I wasn't going to miss it.

The Build Up

So over the next several months we started to get organised. JR and I set up a separate section of the ozboulevards forum for the trip, we worked out the route, the stops, the accommodation locations, we did our research on the trials and tribulations of crossing the Nullarbor and generally started to get our shit together.

At first, lots of people were enthusiastic and wanted to be involved. As time went past and the enthusiasm waned, more and more dropped out, until it was clear it was just going to be me and JR. We were chatting on the phone one night and committed that no matter what, no matter who else wanted to be involved, even if our wives backed out, he and I would make the trip. We had started this thing 18 months out from takeoff so all we could do was start to prepare.

The Route

JR and I agreed that I would organize the route and accommodation stops from Sydney to Victor Harbor in SA and he would do everything west of Adelaide. Basically I was looking to re-do the big ride that the M109 forum did in 2009 for a couple of reasons.

Firstly the wife was coming this time, she hadnt been on the 2009 ride, on that ride we had seen some spectacular scenery and I really want to show her more of Australia. In 2009 The Great Ocean Road was smashed by the biggest storm to hit the Melbourne coast in 40 years. On that day we rode through what was effectively a freezing hurricane. On that trip all I remember of the GOR was it was freezing fucking cold and keeping the bike on the road was incredibly difficult due to the horizontal wind and rain.

After such a crap experience on what is supposed to be one of the best motorcycle roads in the world, I really wanted to take the opportunity to ride it again and ride it in decent weather.

So the route I was planning followed the coast along Sydney - Eden - Torquay - Mount Gambier - Victor Harbor and after that we would follow JR's Route.

The Bike

When we first decided to do this ride, we were in Bright on my Suzuki Boulevard M109R. Normally we would have been on the Suzuki Boulevard C109R which is our long distance bike. So initially the planning for the trip was all about being on a Boulevard. Over the next 18 months Jick and I decided that we really needed to change bikes from the C109. Its a great bike, but its big, its heavy and it corners like a petrol tanker. If you are spending a lot of time on freeways or really good quality B roads its a great bike, but it really doesn't suit the kind of riding we like to do.

Jick and I like to get out into corners, out into the back roads and countryside of Australia. We also really like getting away for weekends or more.So over time we started to look for what is termed a Sports Tourer. Something that is designed to do long distances in great comfort but is also agile and corners really well.

So after much looking around we went for a test ride on a BMW K1600GTL.

We both LOVED it. She loved the comfort, the head whip, the agility, I loved all of that plus the sheer balls to the wall power of the thing. We took it up the Old Pacific Highway to our regular coffee spot at Kulnura. I got off it and the first thing I said to Jick when I got off "That's a license loser" (Remember that statement for later)

We both loved it, the problem was the price. Out of the box the K1600GT are nearly 40K Aus$. 40 grand in Australia will buy you a very decent car, so to pay that kind of money was just unheard of for a bike. So after a lot of debate we both agreed it was off the table.

So over the next several months we looked at and tried a whole bunch of different bikes
Triumph Trophy

Honda F6B

Victory Vision

Kawasaki 1400 GTR

and I even manged to get Jick on a Goldwing.

Each time we would go out and at the end of every ride or trial, we would start to compare the bike against the BMW. Each time the trial bike would come up short. The BMW had become the "Gold standard "against which we compared all other bikes.

The BMW K1600GT has every luxury and every bell and whistle that BMW is capable of throwing at a pair of wheels. A brand new flat 6 cylinder engine, ABS, electronically adjustable shock profile, blue tooth, electric wind shield, independent grip/seat heating, stereo, more torque than a tractor yada yada yada. When it was released the critics struggled to find new superlatives and to define a category for this bike, in the end it was decided that although its primary target was the Honda Goldwing, a luxury tourer, this bike truly fitted into the "Sport Tourer" category.

After all the debate and testing in November of 2013 I bought a 2014 Suzuki M109R BOSS. To be honest I wanted a Ducati Diavel, but at the last minute I had a panic attack when I was considering not having an M109 so I bought another one.

As part of the gift with purchase of the BOSS, I received a gift certificate to have a professional photography session and to get a free framed photo at the end of the session.  We decided it sounded like fun and they said we could bring the bike, so we booked a session of photography for us and the new M109R.

On the day we were at the studio, waiting for the photographer, we were having coffee with another couple who were also waiting and talking motorcycles. The chap I was talking to was also interested in the BMW K1600 and was saying he had seen a ridiculously cheap one for sale at Procycles in St Peters. We chatted about this bike for a while and then went into our separate photography session.

Then one day about 3 weeks later we were on the other side of the Sydney Harbour bridge from home, something we rarely do, and we decided to stop in at Procycles St Peters and say hi to one of the sales guys there and see if the previously discussed bike was around. We walked in and waved at Kerrod as he was busy and wandered about the shop. There was a very nice K1600GTL up on a stand and we stopped in front of it. Jick and I we were chatting about it when we were approached by a Spanish chap who asked us about our interest in the K1600.

We explained we loved it but the price for new was just too steep. He asked “ever thought about buying used?”

I said I would consider it and he ushered us over to a silver grey 2013 K1600GT on a stand. After some discussion we discovered:
This bike had the following mods – full Arkapovic exhaust system, GPS, K1600 GTL top box, K1600 GTL windscreen and a high mount stop light.
The bike belonged to the Spanish guy we were talking to, who worked for BMW.
It had 12 months warranty still on it
It had just been serviced (In fact it had been over serviced in its lifetime)
The Spanish guy looked after this bike like it was his first born child.

This was about 16000$ worth of mods. If you added that to the 38K for a new bike and you were looking at a $55,000 top of the range motorcycle. I simply couldn't resist it. Originally when we were trying out bikes I had been looking at the K1600GTL, ultimately I came to be very thankful that I bought this K1600GT.

I handed the man 1000$ and said this is mine! no one else can have it! I organised a trade in on the C109R and the following week, Easter long weekend 2014, I walked in and rode the BMW away.

That weekend we went on a long ride. We decided to head out to Denman up the Old Pacific Highway. We stayed overnight at the Denman pub and then headed west along the Bylong Valley way, which if you live anywhere Sydney, and you haven't done it, you are an idiot.

By the end of the weekend were both completely in love with the bike. Over the next 7 months we put over 7000km on the BMW. Riding up to birthdays at the Oxley highway, up and down the coast from Sydney, weekends to Oberon and across the Bells line of Road.

We had a blast each and every time and we were out every single weekend practicing our long distance riding skills.

The BMW was definitely the right bike for us and I was more and more convinced, the right bike to take on the trip to Perth. 

The Build-up

So we started to get ready, we were updating jackets, booking cats into cat accommodation, buying extra thermals and new socks, getting new rubber and having the bike serviced.

Constantly explaining to people we were going to ride across the Nullabor actually never got old. I never got sick of seeing the expression on peoples face when I told them I was going to ride across Australia. No one could believe it. So the weeks crawled past, we organised things at work so they wouldn't miss us, told people where we were going, exchanged emails and PM’s with the people we were going to meet up with, watched the weather, cleaned the bike and took our last training weekend ride. 

Suddenly it was time to go. Saturday September 30th 2014 was here!

A History of the Australian Royal Mechanised Division (ARMD) 2800 - 3049 Part 6

The rank of Marshall is retired with Anne O'Brien.

2814 
By 2814 ARMD has not done well as a mercenary outfit. The unit participates in several small police and defensive actions, but only at the company level. No large contracts are coming their way as the big named units seem to be sucking them up. With the unit's finances in a desperate state, ARMD is contacted by a mercenary agent looking for a Regimental sized unit to take part in a war in the periphery.

All the big units have passed on this one as the agent will not disclose the employer until the contract is signed. Desperate and on the edge of dissolving the unit Commanding Colonel Andrew Sessions accepts the contract.

The news of the employer when it comes is a shock to both sides, ARMD will undertake its first big contract as a unit in the employ of the Taurian Concordat. The memories of the 2575-2598 war are still fresh in the Concordat, tales of the "Cameron Monsters", referring to ARMD are still told by mothers to their children. Unfortunately, both sides are stuck, ARMD needs the money and the Taurians have been unable to hire anyone else to participate in their war against the Canopians.

An understanding is struck. ARMD will put a black cover across the famous Unit badge and will travel within the Taurian Concordat as "Sessions Regulars", they will also spend the entire war based on warships, starbases and remote outposts, they will be kept as far away from the Taurian Civilians as possible.

The next two years are deeply uncomfortable for ARMD, they are being paid and paid well, but the Taurians go out of their way to keep the unit on as tight a leash as possible, restricting their access to ammunition and parts resupply and basing them in the most uncomfortable places they can find. The 3rd company 2nd battalion spent 3 months in an open cargo hold with one toilet and one shower available.

ARMD actually do a very good job for the Taurians and as a direct result of their efforts, the Taurian-Canopiean Compact of 2816 is signed in October of that year.

2816-2830
For the next 15 years, ARMD manages to keep its head above water. Shipping out to worlds across the inner sphere. ARMD service with nearly every house at this time with the exception of House Liao.

2830 
The 2nd battalion is destroyed on Alula Australis defending the HPG Station from the Kuritan 2nd Sword Of Light. The 2nd Battalion defends to the best of their ability, but when it becomes clear they are outmatched by the Kuritan regiment they surrender and agree to terms. After the surrender the Kuritans ignore the terms of the surrender, they seize all ARMD assets on the planet including a rare Overlord class dropship and execute all surrendered ARMD personnel. The Kuritans afterward state that "House Kurita does not make agreement with Mercenary scum"

ARMD is unable to make good the losses and the Regiment is reduced to 2 Battalions.

2930
ComStar becomes embroiled in a serious political conflict with the Draconis Combine when Coordinator Hugai Kurita's older sister, Necess Kurita, asks to join the organization. Hugai responded in mid-November by dispatching a squad of ISF agents to take back his sister from the ComStar hospice on Luthien by force.

When the Comstar First Circuit received word of the event, the body debated whether to acquiesce to the Coordinator or escalate the conflict and ultimately chose to support the Primus's hard-line stance. Though a number of members of the First Circuit called for an Interdiction, the Primus refused the move with support from Precentor Dieron, pointing out that House Kurita's honor and pride would force them to resist it and that only military response could satisfy the Combine's honor. While reluctant, the First Circuit ultimately chose to support York's hard-line stance and use military force to back the will of ComStar.

Though the Order lacked a true military, with the Precentors approval the organization used its capacity as the Mercenary Review Board to sign contracts with almost six regiments worth of crack mercenary units, a force considered large enough prompt the Coordinator to reconsider. The ace in the hole was a unit called the Bandersnatches, a ROM employed mercenary unit in close proximity to Luthien. Primus York then contacted Precentor Hendriks and evoked the never-before-used Emergency Powers Act of the Communications Protocol of 2787, allowing her to operate without interference from Terra and directly telling her the kidnapping could not stand.

ARMD is hired on a strict 12-month contract with the understanding that it would involve combat with the Draconis Combine. Thirsting for revenge against the Kuritans, ARMD travels to Terra to begin preparations for combat drops across the Combine.

While he traveled from Terra with the remaining mercenary forces, York placed the Bandersnatches en-route to Luthien and all ROM elements on the world under Hendrik's direct command along with the order to use whatever force necessary to enforce the will of Blake and ComStar. Hendrik's outlined her plan to use the Bandersnatches as the Sword of Damocles and perform a combat drop directly onto the Unity Palace to cripple or destroy House Kurita leadership. This audacious plan received York's full support. The planned attack forced the Coordinator to step back and release his sister.

In 2933 York would further use the affair as the justification to propose to the First Circuit the formation of a standing military for ComStar.

Settling with five regiments worth of full-time troops as part of a compromise with liberal elements on the First Circuit, York placed the new military under the shared control of the Primus and First Circuit. Building his military around the core of the now disbanded Bandersnatches, outfitted from ComStar's SLDF stockpiles, York tapped the vast resources of ROM to fund its creation. He also managed to convince the First Circuit to approve millions of C-Bills to transform the Sandhurst Royal Military College, from a ROM training school, back into a full military academy. Upon publicly announcing the formation of the branch to the stunned House Lords, York took great pains to convince them the ComStar Guards would be a light infantry force trained only for defensive purposes and stationed strictly on Terra.

ARMD never gets the chance to fight and are discharged on Terra 6 months short of the contract end. Only partial payment is made, leaving ARMD to pay their own way back to New Home. This is a major financial loss to the Regiment and the beginning of a refusal to ever make deals with ComStar again.

2986 
Third Succession war starts.

2991 
The Draconis Combine launches an attack on New Home. Due to a lucky schedule change, both Battalions of ARMD are on the planet. The 2nd Sword of Light drops to the west of Arcadia, on the exact same ground Colonel Sevil had fought with across with the Republicans 200 years before. This time it is the Sword who are savaged. Under the command of Colonel Aaron Bagby (a direct descendant of the famous Wally Bagby of the battle of Ayr) ARMD gets its chance for revenge. The 2nd Sword, expecting a 3rd rate mercenary outfit, advance with next to no tactical discipline towards Arcadia. As they advance into the city they fire randomly into the suburbs, killing and destroying at random.

The 1st and 3rd Battalions ambush and crush the Draconis troops. The Sword manages an escape but loses nearly a complete battalion in the process.

2998 
ARMD raid Fomalhaut in the Draconis Combine for supplies.  The raid is far more successful than the Regiment could have imagined.

3012 
New Home is raided by the Capellan Confederation.

The Capellan Confederation launched an assault on the Planet of New Home in 3012, with the intent of bringing it under their ever-widening sphere of influence. The units sent to assault the planet were the 4th Capellan Irregulars, a battle Mech Battalion, the 7th, 81st and 90th Armoured Regiments, and the 101st Infantry Division. Unfortunately, one ARMD Battalion was away on contract, only the 3rd Battalion was present to face the invasion with a dozen stiletto aircraft for air support.

The Leader of this Battalion, Major Harold 'Guts' Rickley devised a plan to resist the assault. He ordered all available drop ships to land in and around the Arcadia Starport, the sole start port still operational on the planet. The intent was to provide a defensive umbrella around the start port using the dropships heavy weaponry, making a drop directly on the port impossible. The heavy anti-ship weaponry based around the start port kept the Capellan jump ships from supporting the drop directly.

As Rickley predicted, the Capellans readied for a ground assault on the space-port, landing some 50 clicks west of his positions. During the course of the first night, 3/1/3 "Omega lance" consisting of 2 Jenner II's, a Cicada and a spider made a blacked out, passive sensor raid on the enemy landing site. Catching the Capellans still trying to sort out the landing "Omega" lance was able to destroy a considerable amount of the landed supplies, including a massive fuel bladder which exploded, engulfing a "Leopard" class drop ship caught with its doors open.

After doing a quick supply count, the Capellans figured they had three days to take the spaceport before their supplies ran out. Their comms were being jammed by spaceport control and more of their dropships had been damaged by a Stiletto strike.

Resolving to take the Spaceport in a single action, the Liao Commander ordered an all-out assault. Within an hour of ordering the advance, the Capellan lead elements were reporting minefields on all approaches to the spaceport except a single valley. The Valley, named Rushing Waters Canyon was a dry valley, despite the name. A recent project by the Space-port committee had dried it to make it available for emergency cargo traffic, making its name rather deceptive.

Wary of a trap, the Capellan's advanced, their Crawlers at the front to take the brunt of any defense, with the Capellan Mechs scattered throughout the column to provide support. The single Assault Company comprised a rearguard.

When the first Tank exited the valley on the Starport side, all hell broke loose, the ARMD 3/1 Company, comprised of manly light mechs, powered up and shook off their camouflage. The 3/1 had been refitted with close-range weaponry and were placed right at the end of the valley, using the element of surprise to their advantage, they began to destroy the 90th Armored wholesale. The 3/1 used speed to outmaneuver the enemy tanks slow turret rotation, picking them off at will.

As the Capellan Mech's advanced to meet the threat, ARMD's 3/2 Heavy company powered up on the top of the valley walls. The ARMD Heavies took a heavy toll among the enemy mech lances. Explosives that had been laid along the sides of the Valley walls, were set off, destroying more tanks, mechs and killing thousands of the Liao infantry who were now moving into the valley.

The commander of the Capellan forces signaled a general retreat, cursing his officers for "failing to advise him of the trap" Rickley wasn't finished with him yet. The Stilettos came in overhead running an attack mission the entire length of the valley, firing armor-piercing missiles into the positions of the rear guard Liao assault mechs, damaging them heavily. This was followed by the commitment of the 3/3 Medium Company to the battle. The 3/3 powered up and advanced into the rear of the burning Liao column. Leaving the cave they had been hiding in position near the entrance to the canyon, they utterly decimated the remaining Capellan forces.

The ARMD 3rd Battalion, having lost a lance worth of Mechs at this point (two Jenners a Catapult and a Hunchback) chased the retreating enemy back to the over of their dropships. The Capellans were forced to abandon one dropship and flee with whatever they were able to load up.

All told the ARMD destroyed the 4th Capellan irregulars, the 90th armor savaged the 7th and 81st armoured during the retreat and captured the entire 101st before they were able to escape the planet.

After the battle, the citizens of Arcadia renamed the Rushing Waters Canyon "Gallipoli Gap" in honour of the defense of the city. A statue of Harold Rickley was erected at the mouth of the valley to remember his successful action.

3014
Capellans again raid New Home, again they are repelled but they inflict great losses on ARMD forces.
Studying the failure of 3012, the Capellans identified many mistakes made during the assault.
Firstly, they had neglected to properly scout the attack corridor.
Second, they lacked air support, although it didn't make a great difference during the battle, the attack run of the Stilletto's had damaged enough Assault mechs to make the attack of the ARMD medium company a success.
Third, the Capellan Warriors were inferior in terms of professional ability, panicking at the first sign of the enemy.

Learning from these lessons, the Capellans incorporated new tactics and training into the battle plan for their second raid.

The Capellans launched the second raid on New Home in 3014. Having hired out the 1st Battalion via proxy they would again face the 3rd Battalion who had defeated them in 3012. The Capellan Forces jumped to the closest LaGrange point and dropped their forces. They landed in the same place as the battle of 3012, 50 kilometres from the spaceport.

The Capellans had brought the 3rd, 5th and 12th Mech Companies (detached) that had been specially created for this raid. The 40th, 67th and 87th Armoured Brigades were in support along with several squadrons of Helicopters and ground assault aircraft. Against this force, ARMD were able to deploy the 3rd Battalion, several old tanks and the same small force of Stilletto multi role attack aircraft.

Harold 'Guts' Rickely was still in command of 3rd Battalion. Unlike the previous battle where he showed fore sight and a strong grasp of the terrain and tactics, Rickely prepared his forced much as before. He expected that the Capellans would make exactly the same assault and mistakes as 3012. Intending to use his tanks as bait, he intended to draw the enemy into "Gallipoli Gap" before assaulting from all sides.

However, the Capellans had come prepared and had learned from the previous battle.

Instead of waiting for daybreak before assaulting, they sent the 3rd independent company into the gap and ran the 5th and 12th along each side of the valley, before the ARMD forces were completely deployed. Within 15 minutes ARMD had lost two lances of Mechs and were fighting a desperate rearguard action. Soon the Capellan Armoured units joined the Mech Companies driving through Gallipoli gap. Even with Lances reinforced by trainees, ARMD was on it's last legs. When the Capellans finally called in Air support to finish the job, all but two of the ARMD Mechs were standing. Rickley and cadet Jacob Roskill, who was to earn the callsign "Three Mechs" after going through three mechs in this engagement.

Rickley ordered Jacob to fall back, and revealed his only trick of the engagement. Two Long Tom Artillery pieces ARMD had taken in the Formahault raid, ordering the operators to use his co-ordinates as a beacon, he charged into the midst of the Capellan forces. The heavy artillery shells wreaked havoc among the Capellan mechs, but also led to the death of Colonel Rickely.

Having achieved their goal, the destruction of the 3rd, the Capellans made an orderly retreat salvaging most of their lost Mechs and several ARMD mechs.

3016
In a final raid that caught the remaining battalion, the 1st, on the planet, the Capellans again raid New Home. The 1st fights a running battle across West Island, striking and disappearing for months. After 3 months, the 1st is out of ammunition, food and fuel. A negotiated settlement with the Capellans allows the last remaining ARMD battalion to disband and retire to their homes.

For over 1000 years ARMD has fought across human space taking part in many of the greatest events in Human history, with this final ignominy of defeat at the hands of the Capellans, the Australasian Royal Mechanised Division is no more.

3025
The Third succession war ends.

3030 
New Home becomes part of the Tikonov Free Republic. The leader of the Republic, Pavel Ridzik, had allied with the FedSuns and promised not to attack the Capellan Conferation as part of the succession of the TFP. He did however go on the offensive against the much larger Free Worlds League. Ridzik's Republican Guards were able to surprise and defeat League troops on worlds like Hall. Many ex ARMD warriors made up units within the Republican Guard. Captain-General Janos Marik's fear of the nascent Federated Commonwealth kept him from retaliating. Chancellor Liao did retaliate, in the only form he could, he had Pavel Ridzik assassinated.

3041 
The people of the Tikonov Free Republic chose to end their short-lived independence and join the Federated Commonwealth's Sarna March, bringing their conquered League worlds with them.

3045
New Home has a reputation of providing an excellent cadre of Warriors. Even tho ARMD no longer exists, the long history and family ties to the Division remain within the families of the planet.

3045
A group of mechwarriors return on leave to New Home. They are the first generation of New Home warriors to have not served within ARMD from childhood. Each warrior has trod a different path, some were educated in House schools and served with House Units, some trod the path of the mercenary, training and fighting for pay across the galaxy. Six men, friends from boyhood return at the same time to catch up with families and rest from the efforts of the 4th succession war. Current loyalties matter nothing, they are all men of New Home.

During a week long hike through the mountains of South Island, the leader of the group falls down a steep, densely forested ravine. When he comes to he finds himself lying in front of a massive, vine covered set of doors. The doors are meters high and wide, easily big enough for a mech. Approaching the massive slabs of metal he finds a smaller human sized door and sets his hand against the lock plate. He experiences a sharp pain on his ring ringer and when he looks down he can see a single drop of blood.

The door slides open and into a vast mech bay.

He enters, marvelling at the sheer size and scale of the place and the wonders of the mechs, powered down and sleeping in their bays. He explores further into the complex and in one large and luxuriously appointed room, sitting on a massive desk he finds a leather bound book made of actual sheets of plas. On the cover is embossed the sigil of ARMD, an emblem he had only seen on public buildings in Arcadia and on the old uniforms of marching veterans on remembrance day parades.

On the cover:
"The Complete and Unabridged History of the Australian Mechanised Division: 2014-3016.
Internal Intelligence
Commanders Eyes only
Fidelis Ultra Nex"

He opened the book and sat down to read. 12 hours later he looked up, tears in his eyes, pride in what had been gained in blood and fire, sorrow in what had been lost. Why had he never known this?, why did his parents not school him in this history and the traditions of his forebears?.

Leaving the hidden cache, walked outside to call his brothers. Bringing them inside the cache and showing them the mechs, he explained what he had found in the book. They made copies and each of the six got a single copy, signed by all of them. Each took the book home and over the next weeks, each read and learned of the history of their ancestors, history lost in a single generation.

Meeting together at the cache 3 weeks later each looked into the eyes of the others and each man nodded. None of them returned to their units, each was now a deserter. Calls went out to the old families of New Home, messages were sent to those who were off planet fighting in other peoples wars, messages which simply said "Come Home, the tradition is reborn"

Several hundred returned over the next year, many bringing family mechs, some escaping with their unit mechs. All of them leaving existing service. Young ones, sensing something special was happening kept their ears open to find out what was going on.

Each man, knowing they have deserted their units takes a new name to protect their families. It quickly becomes a tradition and each returnee also takes a new "Nom de Guerre"

The first Six
Battalion Commander
Major
Call sign: Nav

Company Commander
Captain
Call sign: Athelstane

Company Commander
Captain
Call sign: Bluemaxx

Company Commander
Captain
Call sign: Slide

Lieutenant
Call sign: Ceefood

Lieutenant
Call sign: heLLman

Lieutenant
Call sign: ZathrasZero

3048
A request is sent to the ComStar Mercenary registrar to transfer ownership of the ARMD Mercenary Corporation to a dummy company on New Home. The registration of ARMD had never been cancelled, it had simply been allowed to lapse so the transfer by low level ComStar  functionaries was easy and quiet.

In June of 3048, a "new" Battalion paraded for the first time on its old grounds. Wealthy backers had purchased the old barracks of the 4th RCT outside of Arcadia and gifted it to the unit.

Agents appeared in the recruiting halls of the inner sphere looking for work for the new unit.

ARMD was reborn.

3049
Today

A History of the Australian Royal Mechanised Division (ARMD) 2777 -2800 Part 5

July 12th Week Five
The Marions and the 3rd advanced quickly along the coastal roads and overwhelmed Aotea Quay and the Wellington industrial ports. Most of the members of the government of New Zealand were found hanging from roof supports in the Wellington sports stadium. Infantry and Chindits were dropped along the ridges to the north, clearing out small teams of Republican forces mostly equipped with mortars and recoilless rifles to provide harassing fire on the advancing SLDF forces. The SLDF was now ready to advance into Wellington city proper.

The heavier Marions' would push through the central business district to take Mount Victoria, capturing the highest point in the city. The 3rd was tasked with sweeping North and West, running the hills around the CBD and eliminating any opposition they may find.

The push began on the 10th of July with the Marions advanced preceded by a massive bombardment of the suburb of Thorndon. The Marions got off to a good start, capturing the eastern edge of the suburbs up to Murphy street with little opposition. It was in Thorndon proper the true fighting began, the Republican commander had decided to make a strong defensive stand in Thorndon. Mechs were walked into the rears of buildings to enable surprise attacks from the front, they were buried under rubble, they powered down and were camouflaged to look destroyed. As the Marions advanced towards the Ministry of Justice they walked into a fire-storm. Fire was coming from everywhere, Marions mechs went down rapidly and retreated, the Republic forces would not advance, forcing the Marions to push again and again into the heavily defended city.

The 3rd hooked to the North through the town belt, clearing out small hard points and advancing rapidly, after destroying an entrenched unit of Assault tanks in the Botanic gardens, Nunez signaled to his embattled co-commander in the Marions of his success. The 3rd had taken all of its objectives in the first day. Discussing the situation Nunez and the Marions Colonel came up with a plan to cut off the entrenched Republicans in Thordon. The next morning the 3rd would swing east through the Aro Valley towards Mount Cook and establish a blocking line from Central Park in the west to Wellington Hospital in the east.

Overnight artillery was brought up and established in the Botanical Gardens ready to open fire the following morning.

On the morning of the 11th of July, the fact moving 3rd swept aside all opposition and had taken up their positions by 2pm. Artillery was now firing from 2 sides of the Republican positions and with the capturing of most of the coastline of Wellington harbor and the subsequent destruction of its aerospace defenses, fighter-bombers were now able to be brought into the fight.

The suburb of Thorndon was utterly destroyed. The Republic forces broke under the three-pronged bombardment and fled west as the Marions began their advance. They ran straight into the defensive positions established by the 3rd. Being a light unit, the 3rd wasn't able to bring a vast amount of fire to bear on the Republicans and many of the Assault and Heavy mechs bulled their way east towards the cities main aerospace facilities in Rongotai. However many of the republican lighter units fell to the combined fire of Marions advancing in their rear and the hidden mechs of the 3rd.

One thing was puzzling Nunez, so far all they had seen were units of the 10th. The Republican elite mech regiment had been savaged, leaving half their mechs in the Northern suburbs of Wellington. However, they had also managed to badly maul both the SLDF regiments with Marions at 50% casualties and the 3rd at 40%.

Somewhere in the area was the largely fresh 192nd and the SLDF had no idea where. Marions advanced to the 3rds positions and a halt was called to regroup and rearm.

July 19th Week Six
On the 13th Marions pushed North and West, Intent on taking the heights of Mount Victoria and Hataitai. The intent was to capture both sides of the peninsula with Oriental Bay in the North and Evans bay to the west. This would enable Marions to bring their artillery to bear across the city including the Aerospace port. The 3rd established a blocking position through Newtown and Sinclair parks with the remaining battalion of heavies, while the lights and mediums struck south through to Island bay, clearing out the final remnants of Republican infantry and armor. Finally with the bulk of the city in their hands and artillery in place on Mount Victoria the SLDF were clear to advance on the aerospace port at Rongotai.

On the morning of the 14th, the 3rd pushed out in advance of Marions. The plan was to advance in 2 waves with the lighter elements of the 3rd leading and Marions coming up in a second wave. 2 companies of Marions would Cross Evans bay underwater and emerge through Calder park, as a diversion. The 3rd was to push forward as fast as possible, taking the aerospace port and advancing into the eastern suburbs of Miramar.

Nunez was now seriously worried, the 10th and the 192nd still hadn't shown their faces since the fighting in Thordon. Somewhere out there were two regiments of Republicans. Nunez didn't have to wait long to find out where the 192nd was hiding. As the 3rd crossed the runways they came under heavy long-range fire from 192nd mechs.

The lighter mechs scattered to the north and south looking for ways through the fire. The heavies moved up through Rongotai to the edge of the runway to bring fire support. The Republican trap was sprung, With the third deployed in the tight space of the airport and the suburbs to the east, the Republican command activated 2 Fuel Air Bombs. These massive devices were sitting hidden on top of the tallest buildings of the suburb and the western edge of the port. The 2 bombs were conventional explosives but ignited with the power of half a mega tonne each. In the confined space of the isthmus, a million tons of explosives went off.

The 3rd simply vanished in a massively expanding fireball. The forming up Assault mechs of the Marions, 8 kilometers away, were knocked flat, one light mech was thrown over a kilometer. The two companies of Marions crossing the bay underwater were found later, their mechs crushed by the shock wave. Any SLDF troops outside of hardened armor or Mech cockpits were killed instantly. The Marions mechs were somewhat protected as they were still behind the hills and ridges of the park belt running north to south across the city. Much of the city of Wellington was completely flattened by the shock wave.

Most of the deployed holding line of the 192nd were also destroyed, but these were acceptable losses for the destruction of a regiment. Hidden and protected from the explosion down in Worser bay, the remains of the 10th and the 192nd powered up and charged the shattered SLDF lines. The Marions were in bad shape, most of their mechs were now damaged and their warriors in shock.

The Republicans were coming so fast the heavy weapons of the orbiting Battleships could not be brought to bear as they were too close to the Marions troops already. A retreating artillery barrage was called in, trying to stay on top of the Republicans as they moved forward through the shattered landscape of the city. Assault mechs moved to the top of the ridges of the park belt and added their fire to the artillery.

The Republicans took terrible losses, 2 battalions destroyed before they were able to engage the recovering Marions. SLDF aerospace, deploying out of Auckland, the New Zealand Combat Air Patrol was on station in minutes, but the battle was so fast moving and the 2 sides so intermingled they were unable to provide much assistance beyond picking off Republican mechs separated from the main force.

The Marion Commander made a desperate call, he ordered all artillery within range to fire on his position with the aiming point being his Cyclops. The whole city was an inferno of fire and explosions as mech battled mech hand to hand, heavy artillery dropped all along the battlefront and Aerospace fighters added to the inferno with strafing and missile runs where ever possible.

The Marions battled ferociously to hold off the Republicans and slowly the heavier weight of fire the SLDF was able to bring to bear began to make a difference. Rear elements of the 192nd started to turn and run, there was nowhere for them to go, but anywhere was better than the hell that was the battle of Wellington. The command lance of the 10th was destroyed by the concerted fire of a troop of Catapults and Archers and command cohesion of the Republican forces was lost.

The Republican lances broke. The Marions were ordered to halt in place and as they ran the orbiting fighters were given a free fire order on anything east of the Park Belt. It was a slaughter, the 10th was completely destroyed and only scattered individual mech warriors of the 192nd were able to surrender. It was a victory, but a Pyrrhic one.

The city of Wellington would never be rebuilt, it was left as a monument to the liberation of Terra and a mass grave for the tens of thousands of soldiers and trapped civilians who died in the city. The Marions were shattered, it would take years before they were able to rejoin the NorthWind Highlanders as a fighting force and the 3rd ARMD regiment had simply ceased to exist.

The body of Colonel Sergio Nunez was never found.

2779 
Jerome Blake returns to Terra, Stefan Amaris is captured by Aleksander Kerensky and executed, Terra is officially liberated.

2780 
The Terran Hegemony was devastated and largely in ruins, worst of all, there was no rightful successor for the position of First Lord. With increasing disappointment, Kerensky saw that the feuding House Lords were going to be unable to choose a new leader of the Star League. On the 10th of October 2780, the Council of Lords gathered and stripped Kerensky of his title of Protector. Ten months later, the Lords had not chosen a new First Lord, each claiming the title and position for him or herself, and the Council was dissolved by the Lords on the 12 of August 2781.

Kerensky refused a proposition by General Aaron DeChavilier to overthrow the House Lords. The reasons for his refusal are unknown.

ARMD forces still remaining intact are returned to New Home to rest and refit. ARMD have lost the 1st and 3rd Regiments, the 4th is a bare shadow of its former self and the home planet underwent a brutal occupation at the hands of the Republicans. Only the 2nd came out of the Liberation war relatively unscathed.

ARMD Marshal, Anne O'Brien, with the complete agreement of her Colonels issues a vow to only ever fight by the rules of Ares Convention. ARMD will never again be involved in the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction or war on Civilians. This declaration leads to a conflict with General Kerensky who believes that Total War is the only solution against the enemies of the Star League.

2784 
After months of deliberation and starting to read the signs of an imminent war amongst the House Lords, Aleksandr Kerensky gathers all of the surviving SLDF Commanders on Terra.

Kerensky proposes a shocking idea. In order to remove the most powerful military force in Human space from the greedy hands of the House Lords, he would lead the remaining SLDF men and women out of the Inner Sphere to a self-imposed exile. Kerensky refused to order this, the choice to go or stay was left to individual commanders and units. Marshal O'Brien traveled back to New Home and called the remains of ARMD together on the Mech parade ground of the 2nds base at Zion. Every member of ARMD was there, electronic jamming blanketed the city and sweeps were made to remove all civilians from the area. This conversation was for ARMD and ARMD alone.

The warriors were drawn up along regimental lines and Marshall O'Brien and her two remaining Colonels mounted a dais built at the head of the parade ground as a reviewing stand. The officers came to attention and saluted the rows of ARMD men and women. The speech made by O'Brien was captured at the time and is shown below in its entirety.

"Warriors of ARMD, brothers, and sisters, I stand in front of you today to ask you your wishes for the future of the Division. You have fought with honor and courage for the last 10 years across a multitude of worlds. You have stood up for the traditions and beliefs the Division has held dear for hundreds of years. We, your commanders salute you and all the beloved brothers and sisters we have lost.

Protector* Kerensky has called on the SLDF to leave the Star League. He believes that if the Army stays in Human space we will be manipulated and used as weapons of the House Lords. The Wars we have fought to bring peace to the people of the Star League will never end.

This decision affects all of us, our families and the people we have come to love on this planet. We, your commanders will not make this decision for you. We ask for your decision and we will support your decision, whatever it is. If you wish to join Protector Kerensky and leave the Star League, move to the western side of this parade ground. If you wish to stay on New Home and remain within Human space, form up to the eastern side of the Parade ground. The officers will remain on the podium until you have made your decision and we will join the majority group."

* The SLDF refused to acknowledge the stripping of the title of Protector by the League Council in 2780.

O'Brien and her two Colonels then took up a parade rest position and waited.

The warriors of ARMD were initially stunned. Slowly a murmur arose which escalated into a roar as the troops started to talk amongst each other. After four hours no warrior had moved West or East. Finally, Sergeant Glenn Marrur, a highly decorated and respected Veteran moved to stand in front of the dais. He came to a parade salute position in front of O'Brien and moved to the east. O'Brien saluted him back and remained in that position. One by one, each member of ARMD performed the same ritual. O'Brien stood in parade salute for two hours, tears streaming down her face as ARMD, to the last Warrior voted to stay.

Finally, as the last warrior walked east, O'Brien left the podium and joined them.

The decision was signaled to Kerensky the next day. His final words to ARMD came in a signal dated June 16th, 2784 Kerensky signaled to O'Brien "The loss of ARMD to the SLDF is a great blow to us, the gaining of ARMD to the people of the Inner Sphere is a huge gift. Good Luck"

80% of the remaining SLDF choose to follow Kerensky into exile.In Operation Exodus six million men, women, and children followed General Aleksandr Kerensky into the deep periphery towards an unknown destination and future. This act completes the collapse of the Star League.

2784 - 2786
The Star League no longer exists, the vast infrastructure which ARMD had relied on to supply it of troops and war material was gone. Although ARMD had moved much of its manufacturing infrastructure from New Rhodes III, it had also lost a lot. ARMD now had several projects they needed to undertake immediately.
1. Reorganise the shattered remains of 4 Regiments into a single regiment, the 2nd.
2. Renegotiate the terms of the garrisoning of New Home now that the Star League was gone and the Hegemony collapsing.
3. Work out how to keep the infrastructure, material and reinforcements flowing to allow the unit to continue to operate from a single world.

2786 
The reorganization process was well under way when Minoru Kurita struck New Home in one of the first attacks of the First Succession War. Kurita is after the manufacturing facilities present on the planet. The DCMS attacked in force landing 3 regiments on the planet, stealing anything that isn't nailed down and blowing up the rest.

The 2nd commanded by O'Brien fight a brilliant running battle across West Island driving off the DCMS forces but taking such damage that the regiment is rendered combat ineffective. ARMD start to build up their forces again by trading small "police" forces to neighboring planets in return for material.

2788 
Comstar seizes Terra and declares the neutrality of the planet.

2790 
ARMD now has established local roots, the unit has friends and families across the planet. The inheritable Duchy of New Home, ceded to the Marshal of ARMD by Cameron's so many years ago is declared the governing role of the planet after months of sometimes heated negotiations with the civilian authorities. ARMD is no longer a garrison of New Home, they are its defenders and its citizens. The Division officially ties its fate to that of the planet.

2800 
After 10 years it is becoming clear that New Home cannot support a regimental size unit by itself. O'Brien does everything she can to keep the unit together, continuing the tradition of "loaning out" small mech units to surrounding planets, selling off all elements other than Battlemechs and many, many warriors are pensioned off.

Eventually, it becomes clear to the aging O'Brien that ARMD will not be able to survive purely as a garrison unit. It is going to have to earn its way in this new war-torn universe. She proposes to the Divisional Council that ARMD swallow their pride and start to hire themselves out to increase revenue. The proposal is divisive and it isn't until she puts the Divisional accounts before the Council that the idea is accepted. Without an alternative source of revenue, ARMD will have to disband within the next 12 months.

The 2nd Regiment is renamed the ARMD Mercenary Corporation and begins to shop itself around. Many Mechwarriors, unable to accept the change, step down. In many cases, they are awarded their mechs as family heirlooms. These "pensioners" retire from active service and join the planetary militia. Any member of the Planetary Militia is paid for and supported by the civilian authorities, not ARMD. ARMD gains a reserve of mechs and veteran warriors resident on the planet and moves a lot of costs off its books. The civilians gain a permanent mech force dedicated to the defense of New Home, for a moderate cost.

Marshall Anne O'Brien steps down from the leadership of ARMD. Her final act as Marshall is the signing of the registration of the Corporation. She retires to a small farm on South island and dies in 2805. Her funeral is the largest single event the planet has ever seen.

O'Brien led the Division through the horror of the Terran Liberation, the schism of Operation Exodus and the post-war years as it evolved into something very different from its Star League roots. O'Brien is venerated as one of the greatest ever leaders of ARMD.

A History of the Australian Royal Mechanised Division (ARMD) 2666-2777 Part 4

2600-2760 (Cont)
The return from the reunification war brought many problems apart from the purely logistical. ARMD had been reinforced over the previous 20 years by the Star  League Defence Force Logistical and Reinforcement Supply Depots, commonly known as "Reppledepples". The SLDF poor initial planning for replacements had a  terrible effect on the general morale and unit cohesion of almost all of the units within the Army. Simply put, once a soldier was separated from his unit by wounds or illness, there was little chance of him returning to that unit. Instead, he was sent to a replacement depot, a repple-depple in Army slang. From the depot, he would then be reassigned as needed to whatever unit had a shortfall in his particular MOS (military occupation specialty). This meant that a soldier could spend months of training, forming close bonds with comrades, the basis for unit cohesion, and then in his first day of combat could be separated from them, never to fight with them again.

Within ARMD the impact of this was to immediately dilute the traditions and history of the unit. ARMD received reinforcements with differing levels of training from both the Terran hegemony and House units. Traditional rivalries, both ethnic and nationalist were brought into ARMD by these new replacements,  resulting in events like the refusal of units in the 3/4th Artillery to fire in support of the 3/14th infantry under attack. The infantry was largely made up of Kuritans from the Davion borders, the artillery was largely made up of Davions.

Once the unit returned to New Rhodes III and began to rebuild, several programmes were put in place in an effort to rebuild the shattered morale of the men and women of ARMD.

Medical and Psychological testing was undertaken on all members of the Division. Anyone found medically and/or mentally unfit to serve was discharged from service with an Honourable discharge. Those deemed physiologically unfit had the opportunity to retire to ARMD hospitals where they would be looked after for the rest of their lives. For most of the next decade, ARMD would operate the largest Veterans hospitals in the sector.

Internal unit "Truth" commissions were held. All members of ARMD had the opportunity at this point to confess to their involvement in anything that could be considered a war crime. Anyone who confessed could not later be prosecuted and discharged for their actions. Many members of the unit resigned rather than discuss their actions, many mentally collapsed under gentle questioning and could not be made to recall any actions. Several men who confessed and appeared to be proud of the horrific actions they had undertaken were quietly retired.

The mental purge of the experiences of the last 20 years was a cathartic experience for all of the members of ARMD. The process took several years and when complete large numbers of men and women had quit, retired or been discharged. The Truth commissions were declared closed.

On May 20th, 2608 22 ARMD men and women were found dead in their beds. On top of each body was a folder. None of the 22 men and women had been part of the Truth commission process and none of them had confessed to anything. The contents of the folder provided detailed and exhaustive evidence of extensive,  brutal and horrific war crimes. The selling of slaves, mass murder, systematic torture and rape, every crime on the military stature books and some they had to make up new laws for, had been perpetrated by these people.

On the front of each folder was the motto of the Internal Intelligence arm of the Chindits, Fidelis Ultra Nex.  8 of the names were added to the Black List,  all of them were recorded as dishonorably discharged. It was never divulged whether the Divisional commanders were informed of the killings beforehand, but the message was clear, even after 20 years of constant war the Chindit Internal Intelligence service was still present and active within ARMD.

Over the next hundred years, ARMD rebuilt not only its TO&E but also its ethos, its morale and its deeply held beliefs of mateship and service. Although a lot of replacements would eventually return to their home states, many stayed within ARMD and settled on New Rhodes III, bringing new traditions and skills to the planet and the unit. Classes in the history of ARMD and its internal traditions and beliefs became mandatory for all new recruits, considered just as important as passing the physical training.

Many veterans of the war would be made part of the ARMD training schools, integrating their experience during the actions of the last 20 years into the training passed down to the new recruits. Several of these men and women who survived the reunification war, including the famous Captain Cristofer  Galatidas, would serve from the age of 18 until they finally died of old age still in ARMD uniform.

Across the Star League, the problems of returning veterans were handled in many different ways, from efforts similar to that of ARMD through to the infamous  Veterans Day massacres which occurred in Kuritan space. As crime rates spiked, membership of bandit mech groups increased as returning veterans attempted to find a home where they were accepted, an unknown bureaucrat in the little-known office of Star League Titles and Manors created a policy which was signed into Terran Hegemony policy on November 12th, 2670. The policy with the innocuous title of "Titles and Manor holdings, reformation" was a political knee-jerk attempt to deal with the ongoing problems posed by veterans. The policy was intended to force returning veterans who had caused issues to move on to new planets, it would have a huge impact on ARMD.

Unfortunately, it was a very poorly phrased policy and the massive Star League Defence Force bureaucracy got it completely wrong, interpreting it as an order to move any settled unit around within the Inner Sphere. On January 1st, 2698, ARMD Marshall Kimberley Kampstra received new orders from the SLDF. The Dukedom of New Rhodes, held by the ARMD Marshall was to be immediately transferred to New Home closer to Terra. ARMD were required to transfer all military members,
equipment and dependents to the bases that were being prepared for them on New Home by December 31st, 2698 under the authority of the SLDF and the "Titles and Manor holdings, reformation" policy.

Kampstra was stunned and not knowing what to do, put off calling her Colonels council for 4 days. ARMD had been stationed on New Rhodes III since 2338. They were a deeply integrated part of the economy and the government, ARMD owned and ran manufacturing facilities, hospitals, schools, universities, social and governmental services, to a large degree it could be said that ARMD was the government and economy of New Rhodes. Generations of ARMD members had been born,
raised, served, fought, died and been buried with honor on New Rhodes. Due to a petty bureaucrat's poorly worded policy that would all end. When she finally called her Colonels back from holiday she had a plan. The plan hinged around the phrase "and dependents."

ARMD would take as many of the people of New Rhodes who wished to come with them as they could jam into their fleet. Any civilian and their families who could be persuaded to join the ARMD exodus would be gladly welcomed.

Exodus
Kampstra ordered the engineers of the Division to get to New Home and scout out the ground. The initial reports were not encouraging. The SLDF bases that were "being prepared for them on New Home" didn’t exist. The SLDF had flattened some ground in preparation, put up a few disposable homes and left. There weren't enough beds to even house the members of the unit, let alone their families and the wave of dependents. There were no facilities for training, housing and maintenance of Mechs, vehicles or command.  The SLDF in its usual grandiose monolithic way had ticked the "base built" bureaucratic box, refused to accept that the facilities provided were inadequate and would not help ARMD in any way.

The Great New Rhodes Fire Sale.
ARMD began the process of selling every asset it had managed to acquire nearly 400 years of history of New Rhodes. Everything that could not be picked up and moved to New Home would be sold. Land and buildings, businesses would all go on the chopping block. Merchant houses from across the Inner Sphere descended on New Rhodes in a feeding frenzy, buying everything as cheaply as they could.

Every credit that ARMD made was transferred to New Home and went into the building of new facilities to house the transferring regiments. Every ARMD soldier that landed on the new holding would immediately be put to work building the new homes and bases.

The civilian governments of New Rhodes and New Home were both similarly devastated. New Rhodes did not want to lose ARMD and the enormous amounts of credits it bought into the economy, political protests were mounted as far as the Terran Hegemony council and were all rejected by the bureaucracy. The New Home government  had never had a major military unit housed on the planet, expecting a far more massive problem that the minor ones they had had with their own returning
veterans, they too fought the move and were rejected.

The last ARMD warrior left New Rhodes III at 11:58pm, 31 December 2698 and 360 years of ARMD history on New Rhodes III came to a close. Over 1 million men women and children elected to leave New Rhodes to follow the Division to New Home.

2700
Alexander Kerensky born.
ARMD continues to build and expand its facilities on New Home. ARMD rebuilds the same kind of facilities and services they operated on New Rhodes. The civilian government begins to realize what a golden opportunity they have been handed and co-operates enthusiastically, the average income of New Home quintuples over the next 20 years. New Home makes it on to the "best places to live" list of the Sector for the first time.

2720
Kerensky attends Tharkad University. His exploits there eventually land him a spot in the elite Nagelring.

2736
ARMD enters what was to become the last Martial Olympiad for 300 years. They finish 47th.

2738
Jerome Blake is born on Terra.  ARMD units return to New Home after extended garrison duty on the periphery.

2751
The First Lord Simon Cameron dies, his eight-year-old son, Richard Cameron II, becomes First Lord of the Star League. The five House Lords gather on Terra and appoint General Aleksandr Kerensky as Commander-in-Chief of SLDF, and as Regent and Protector of the Star League for the remainder of Richard's minority.

Kerensky orders the SLDF to immediately undergo an extended refit period. ARMD factories on New Home are extensively upgraded and modified. ARMD begins training with its shiny new mechs.

2760
The Marian Hegemony border War begins. ARMD is sent as part of SLDF peacekeeping force. The Marians take it as a second invasion and a short but bloody war breaks out.

2762
Richard Cameron Comes of age and assumes the role of First Lord, Stefan Amaris is already a close confidant. Richard begins by ordering all house armies disbanded and forced to join the SLDF, with the issuance of Executive Order 156. When the Great House Lords refuse, Richard is forced to accept the refusal.  Richard orders the disbanding of the Star League High Council, ruling the Human Sphere unilaterally.

2763
Richard issues the Taxation Edict of 2763, a steep increase in taxes throughout the Human Sphere, but especially onerous within the Periphery. As the tax increase was a clear infraction on the Reunification Treaties, the Periphery governments quickly became militarized and prepared for another Inner  Sphere invasion.

The resulting New Vandenberg Uprising, started by the secession of 18 worlds within the Taurian Concordat in 2765, forced the SLDF and Aleksandr Kerensky to redeploy a significant number of units to fight in the Periphery.

2764
Richard Cameron signs a secret treaty with the Rim Worlds Republic.

2765
Over sixty percent of the units normally stationed within the Terran Hegemony had been relocated to other districts, leaving the heart of the Star League dangerously exposed. It is at this point that the First Lord reveals his secret treaty with Amaris, allowing for the deployment of Rim Worlds Republic Military units to take the place of the SLDF. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd RCT of ARMD are deployed to the Periphery. The 4th remains on New Home as the garrison.

Anger at this use of foreign troops on Hegemony soil is only placated by the Rim Republic's continued fervent and public loyalty to the Star League, Republican forces are allowed onto  Hegemony worlds. However, the number of Republican units is secretly growing daily, with twice as many regiments arriving as officially listed, and under  Richard's orders they were given complete access to the SLDF bureaucracy.  Republican forces gain control of more than half of the Star Leagues Castles Brian
and are allowed to learn the workings of the Space Defence System.

2766
By December more than half of the Republican military have been redeployed to the Hegemony, equivalent to 16 divisions and twice as large as the remaining  SLDF forces. With the pieces in place, Stefan Amaris is ready to act.

December 27, 2766
On December 27, Stefan Amaris has a nine o'clock appointment with the First Lord in his private Audience Chamber within the palace. Amaris moves unchallenged through the palace's security systems, accompanied by four bodyguards. He finds the First Lord eagerly awaiting his arrival, and after
exchanging pleasantries presents Richard with a wrapped box. After tearing through several layers of wrapped boxes, Richard finally uncovered a  jewel-encrusted laser pistol bearing the crest of the Amaris family. Stefan held the pistol up to the light to reflect off the jewels, then leveled it at  Richard's forehead.

The "Ayr" Chindit company were on rotation as personal security to the First Lord. Captain Jan Heyergaff's Delta team were the first to die. Armaris bodyguards had dropped flashbangs at their own feet as Armaris drew the pistol. The flash bangs went off and they opened fire with short controlled bursts,  cutting the entire Delta team down in the first seconds. Heyergraff is the only soldier to actually get a shot off, creasing Armaris and killing a member of his bodyguard standing directly behind him.

Immediately Armaris seized control of the palace automated security systems. He used the control panel within the Audience Chamber which Richard himself had proudly shown the Usurper how to operate.

Armaris was unaware of the full extent of the security system. Sensors had picked up the gunfire and immediately sent alarms to the palace guard and  Richard's personal regiment the Royal Black Watch. The palace guards attempting to enter the Audience Chamber found themselves cut down by hidden laser systems, while the Black Watch suffered heavy losses in traps which had been set for them by the 4th Amaris Dragoons.

Still, the coup was on the brink of failure: a platoon of jump pack-equipped guards, flying low across the palace's roofs to avoid anti-air laser turrets,  were able to reach the roof of the Audience Chamber and two lances of Black Watch 'Mechs were able to escape the traps and confront the 4th Dragoons at Gorst  Flats. The Black Watch was protected on one side by high forested hills on one side and Puget Sound on the other. This allowed the black Watch to draw out the Dragoons and forced them to engage the Watch individually. The efforts of Richards personal guards were ultimately doomed in the face of the well-organized coup.

After losing ten 'Mechs to the entrenched Black Watch soldiers, all of whom had been graduates of the infamous Gunslinger Program, the Dragoon's commander withdrew his forces and dealt with the Watch by using a tactical nuclear warhead. The Dragoons also sent reinforcements to the palace and the Republican infantry arrived just in time to confront the palace guards and destroy them moments before they were able to cut through the Audience Chamber roof. All across the Hegemony, similar dramas played out as the Republicans used surprise to wipe out Regular Army units, many before they could get out of their barracks or troop ships. The use of chemical and nuclear weapons was widespread with enormous corresponding civilian casualties on the densely populated core worlds.

A number of units were able to escape the initial onslaught on Terra, including elements of the 191st Royal BattleMech Division who proceeded to wage a  guerrilla war against Amaris that lasted until the liberation of Terra in 2779.

At least five regiments were able to hold out within their Castles Brian against several Republican assaults until the Castles destruction by repeated nuclear bombardment. Most units, however, if not entirely destroyed, were so badly mauled in that opening day that they effectively ceased to exist or took heed of the ultimatum that Amaris broadcast, falsely declaring he would kill the First Lord if they did not surrender. Those who laid down their arms were forced to dig their own graves and summarily executed. By the end of the day, 95 of the Hegemony's 103 worlds were under Republican control, as well as many intact Castles Brian and the entire Space Defence System.

Gathering all 79 surviving members of House Cameron within the Palace Throne Room, Armaris gives them an ultimatum: swear allegiance to him or die. One by one the family members were brought before him as he sat on the Star League Throne. One by one they were asked to submit. The first twenty refused and were returned to the rest of the group, but the twenty-first, Jason Cameron Bashina, agreed to bow to Amaris.

Armaris shoots Jason with the laser pistol he had earlier used to murder Richard and ordered the remaining Cameron’s killed. He leaves the Throne Room, ordering it sealed forever.

2766
Stefan Amaris declares himself First Lord and orders Aleksander Kerensky to continue the attack on the Taurian Concordat. Kerensky refuses, to Kerensky’s  Fury, the Star Lords refuse to get involved in an "Internal Matter" of the Terran Hegemony and hunker down with their Militaries at high alert. Kerensky
understands that with the removal of the Star Leagues economic support he needs a powerful economic base. He orders the withdrawal of all SLDF forces from the periphery and garrisons across the inner sphere and unleashes them on the now lightly defended Rim Worlds Republic.

2767 The Rim Worlds campaign
ARMD 1st Regimental Combat Team
Port Vail
The 1st and the 22nd Cardoman Lancers drop on Port Vail to very light opposition. Only infantry and small amounts of armor have been left to garrison the world. By order of Kerensky all members of the Armaris political police, Intelligence services, and military high command are rounded up and shot in front of the Government Palace. The people of Port Vail, deeply oppressed by the Armaris political machine welcome the SLDF forces as liberators.

2767 The Rim Worlds campaign
ARMD 1st Regimental Combat Team
Nyasa
The 1st RCT, again with the 22nd are ordered to drop on Nyasa in an attempt to cut the supply lines of the Rim Worlds Republic in half. The 51st Armaris Regulars defending Nyasa, have a plan to trick the SLDF forces into a trap, they allow the 1st to believe that it is facing the bulk of the 51st heavy mechs while the 22nd believes it is facing the lightly defended capital. The forces around Otomba will engage heavily to slow the 1st while making it appear they are pulling back in panic towards the Starport. The heavy units around the capital, Nassuma will remain hidden, engaging with only light resistance.

The initial campaign goes well with the 1st driving hard against light mechs of the 51st Armaris Regulars. Scout mechs of the 1/39th encounter fast-moving elements of the 51st, the skirmishes are designed to keep the 1RCT in place in order to allow the 51st to retreat. As the 1st continues its advance across the plains towards Omotoba, they capture several small towns and cities finding evidence of atrocities committed by Armaris forces. A police station known as a center for the Political police is captured with all the inmates hanging from the walls.

The 22nd, on the other side of the planet, appears to be facing much lighter opposition as they advance on the capital city, Nassuma.

At a signal, the regulars around Omotoba turn and flee from the 1st, racing back into the city and rapidly loading into drop ships. In an attempt to catch the 51st still on the ground the 1st charges into the city and moves to surround the Starport. As the last dropship lifts off the 51st launch a number of tactical nuclear warheads catching the 1st fully deployed.

The 1st RCT utterly ceases to exist.

The remaining troops of the 51st do a half orbit of the planet and drop directly on top of the 22nd. The hidden heavy units within Nyasa emerge as the drops ships are burning down catching the 22nd between two forces. The fighting is vicious, brutal and short-lived as the 22nd fight for their lives against the already depleted forces of the 51st. By the end of 2767 Nyasa is in the hands of the SLDF, the 22nd is so badly mauled it is not able to contribute further during the civil war and Omotoba is a nuclear wasteland.

2769
Terra Prime in the Rim World Republic is finally captured and the Rim is declared a protectorate of the SLDF. Kerensky turns the entire economy of the highly industrialized Republic to a war footing and begins preparing for what he knows has to come.

** Certain portions of this section of the history taken and rewritten from http://www.sarna.net**