Origins

When Wolf's Dragoons slipped the leash of their parent Clan in 3028, the Clans lost their only trusted source of intel on the Inner Sphere. Although news of major events such as the Succession Wars and the formation of the Federated Commonwealth reached them, through the dealings of their merchant caste and various other sources, they still lacked detailed knowledge of the Inner Sphere's military and political situation. Their biggest intelligence coup came via an incredible stroke of good fortune - the capture of the Comstar exploration ship Outbound Light. The data gleaned from the vessel and her crew, convinced them the Inner Sphere was ripe for conquest, ready to be reunited under a new Star League of their own creation.

The Grand Council duly voted in favour of the invasion - finally settling an argument that had been raging between the Clans for decades. The invasion force arrived in the Periphery in 3049, meeting little resistance, although they did score one notable victory, overcoming a Kell Hounds scout unit, capturing Phelan Kell in the process. This would later turn out to have major consequences for Clan Wolf. Over the next year or so, they conquered almost the entire Free Rasalhague Republic, as well as large swathes of the Draconis Combine and Lyran Alliance. During this time, they learned much about the military capabilities, cultures and politics of the Successor States...and were less than impressed by what they found.

The reversal at Tukayyid in 3050, where their combined forces were defeated by the Com Guards, stopped the invasion cold and forced them to reassess their views of the supposedly inferior "freebirths". From then on, their main sources of information came from the Wolves, the Jade Falcons and to a lesser extent, the Ghost Bears. This was a far from satisfactory situation for the homeworld Clans. When they weren't fighting each other, the Wolves and the Falcons conducted limited-scale raids into the Lyran Alliance and Draconis Combine, which yielded little new information. For their part, the Ghost Bears seemed preoccupied with integrating themselves with the populace of their conquered territories.

With the Treaty of Tukayyid due to expire in 3065, it was widely expected that their conquest of the Inner Sphere would resume shortly after. The Warden Clans, in an effort to stall such a move, insisted that better intelligence was needed before committing any resources to another invasion. While the invading Clans had learned much about the Lyran, Rasalhague and Combine states, there was still a vast expanse of the Inner Sphere, about which they knew virtually nothing.

A number of options were considered. The resources of their Watch intelligence services were limited, while their merchants lacked the necessary skills and would be constrained by their primary activities, to gather sufficient truly useful information. It was eventually decided to send a second mission to the Inner Sphere. This time however, a shadow force, hand picked for their loyalty, would accompany the recon unit...with orders to capture or eliminate them if they showed any sign of going the same way as the Dragoons.

With Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon still rebuilding after the Great Refusal War and more interested in expanding their respective Occupation Zones, Clan Coyote were the strongest remaining contender for the task. Having rebuilt their touman under the guidance of Khan Sullivan Koga and now fielding some impressive new OmniMech designs, they defeated forces from the Star Adders, Snow Ravens, Ice Hellions and Cloud Cobras, in the requisite Trials, winning the honour of fielding the recon force.

Khan Koga elected to send the 246th Strike Cluster, a second-line unit from Omicron Galaxy, more commonly known as the Coyote Irregulars. Equipped with mostly second-line Clan mechs and refitted Inner Sphere designs, they would stand out less than a front-line unit. It was thought the omnimechs they did possess could be explained away as prizes won in battle. Also, with a smaller force composition than a more prestigious unit, they would be more convincing in their intended cover role as a mercenary unit. To compensate for this and augment the unit's firepower, the 3 Binaries of battlemechs were upgraded with some heavier chassis.

Another critical factor in the Irregulars' selection, was the number of freeborn personnel in their ranks, who could pass themselves off as Spheroids, much more easily than trueborn warriors. In a move that caused no small number of protests, the trueborns in their ranks - including the commander and a number of senior officers - were ordered to spend several weeks with the merchant caste, learning to act like freeborns. Although most of them regarded this assignment with extreme distaste, all grudgingly accepted it was necessary, if they were to have any hope of maintaining their cover. Last, but by no means least, the unit was renamed the Coyote Cavaliers, which everyone agreed sounded more impressive than "Irregulars", if they were to sell their services to the House Lords of the Inner Sphere.

Early History

Departing from Delios, in the Kerensky Cluster, early in 3064, they reached the Periphery in the middle of 3065, taking a deliberately circuitous route, so that anyone shadowing them would have a hard time pinpointing their origins. However, the first major error occurred early on in the mission. Misjudging how far they needed to travel, they changed course for the Periphery too early and arrived in the Lyran Alliance during the height of the FedCom Civil War.

Passing through the Alliance border region, they soon found themselves embroiled in the conflict. During a routine jump into the Coventry system on their hastily re-thought route, they found themselves in the middle of a major battle between Steiner and Davion forces.

Mistaken for an allied mercenary unit by the local Lyran commander, they were ordered to engage the Davion forces. Separated from the shadow force and with no orders to the contrary, they decided to comply. This first deployment, though unintended, was a resounding success. However, when it became obvious the Cavaliers weren't the reinforcements the Lyran commander had been expecting, questions were asked and the Coyotes' newly-learned art of subterfuge was tested for the first time.

They decided the best way out of their predicament was to explain that they had been en route to an assignment on Melissa, but being unfamiliar with this region of space, had jumped to the wrong system and that, just as the Lyran commander had confused them with another unit, they had assumed he was the officer they were to report to. It wasn't the most convincing of cover stories, but the Lyrans were impressed enough with the Cavaliers' performance that they decided not to push the issue. While they were unable to pay these new mercenaries for their services, since no contract existed between them, the Lyran commander did promise to put in a recommendation with LAAF Command.

After registering with the MRBC on Outreach, exchanging information via HPG, the Cavaliers found themselves working with the LAAF on a number of occasions, taking contracts mainly for defensive duties, which did not interfere too much with their primary intelligence-gathering mission, or make them a prime target for the Davions. Hard pressed by Davion forces, the Lyrans were not overly concerned about the history of this new mercenary unit and were just pleased that they seemed able to carry out their given assignments, no matter how difficult the situation. The Cavaliers continued to serve with distinction, for the rest of the Civil War, playing key roles in the defence several worlds. This allowed the LAAF to switch to a more offensive footing, enabling them to inflict a number of significant defeats on the Davions, although they would ultimately prove to be in vain.

Over this period, the Cavaliers passed on any new data, deemed significant, to their overseers...always mindful of what would happen to them if they failed in their duty.

Post Civil War

With Peter Steiner-Davion's victory on Tharkad and the flight of the deposed Archon Katrina Steiner, came the end of the Civil War. With the outbreak of peace in the newly-separated Lyran Alliance and Federated Suns, the Cavaliers decided to seek employment in pastures new, figuring they had learnt just about all they could about the Lyrans. Their next obvious port of call was the neighbouring Free Worlds League. A fractious state at the best of times, with numerous factions, plotting and counter-plotting against each other, it seemed the perfect place for a mercenary unit.

Sure enough, the MRBC found them a contract with the Duchy of Oriente, ostensibly to apprehend with a rogue FWLM unit, assigned to garrison an outpost on Elektrougli, who had ignored recall orders. The local Militia commander, reasoning that his troops would be loathe to fire on their former comrades, if it came to it, decided mercenaries would be perfect for the job. Unfortunately, as the Cavaliers moved in on the outpost, they found themselves up against not only the rogue Oriente unit, but a much larger force from the Duchy of Regulus as well, whose presence had been requested by the planetary governor, to guard against incursions from Oriente. Forced to retreat off planet, back to their staging world of Salur, they faced the prospect of having to tell their employer they had been unable to fulfil their contract.

Unknown to them, there had been contact between the governor of Elektrougli and the Duke of Oriente, the former demanding to know if the latter was behind the raid. Realising their plans had gone badly awry, the commander of the Oriente Militia and the Duke, decided to point the finger at the Cavaliers, painting them as a pirate band and promising to deal with them.

The mercenaries preparations for departure were greatly accelerated when news reached them of a combined Oriente-Regulus force moving on their location. They attempted to contact their militia liaison, but receiving no response, it quickly became obvious they were being made scapegoats.

Battered and bruised from that debacle, the Cavaliers were forced to flee the FWL, pursued to the borders by Militia units. Their next stop was in the Magistracy of Canopus, where they scratched a living working garrison duty, hunting pirates and acting as the raised fist in various border disputes for the next few months. After their brief tenure in the Magistracy, they passed through the Taurian Concordat and Marian Hegemony. With the scars of Elektrougli still fresh in their minds, they turned down contracts that would have seen them working against the Canopians and the FWL.

Finally, after over 2 months without a contract, they received a message from the MRBC, regarding a previously unknown Periphery state, called the Britannic Coalition...

3067 Update

The brief from the MRBC was unusual, to say the least. The contract called for the Cavaliers to provide training and support for the Coalition's fledgling military, which was attempting a rapid expansion, in an effort to secure all its worlds, but lacked sufficient experienced personnel to do so. It seemed like an easy enough assignment and with no better offers at the time, they accepted. However, they were left cursing their bad luck, when mere months later, the Word of Blake unleashed its Jihad, engulfing all the Successor States in a conflagration and providing countless opportunities for mercenary units.

They were just about to buy out their contract, in search of fatter pay cheques, when the Coalition came under attack by forces unknown. Their contract was hastily re-negotiated to include the defence of the Coalition's capital. When the faceless enemy was revealed to be a Word of Blake Shadow Division, bent on returning those who had strayed, back to the Blakist fold, the Cavaliers found they had all the action they could handle, playing a crucial part in disrupting the Blakist invasion of Britannia, until help arrived from the distant Outer Colonies.

With the help of the powerful, deep-Periphery nation's resources, the grip of the Jihad was broken more quickly in the Coalition than in the Inner Sphere. While the Cavaliers were glad of the chance to rebuild, re-equip and bring in new troops, it wasn't long before opportunities to work elsewhere presented themselves. In 3070, they began the first of a number of short-term contracts with the neighbouring Royalist Alliance.

3081 Update

In mid-3081, they were invited to sign a long-term contract with the Royalist Alliance. Formed a little under 300 years ago, the Alliance has built up a powerful military and strong industrial base, which has been sorely needed due to continuing efforts by the Lyran Alliance to absorb its smaller Periphery neighbour. This continual drain on its military and economic resources forced the government to hire additional military muscle to help secure their borders.

In the post-Civil War Inner Sphere, power and influence could be gained from commerce as well as sheer military might. The Alliance leadership, preferring a policy of trade, rather than force of arms, when it comes to fostering interstellar relations, invested a lot of effort in developing their industrial base and establishing trade routes. However, this expansion went beyond the umbrella of protection that could be given by their military assets. Production facilities, supply outposts and shipping routes all needed protection from the numerous bandit kingdoms located in nearby systems and pirates that roam the Periphery, but with the bulk of the regular armed forces needed to secure the border with the Lyran Alliance, another solution had to be found.

Urgently needing experienced troops to bolster their forces, the government looked for a suitable mercenary outfit to start taking on defensive duties - freeing up more Royalist troops for other duties. Having received details from the MRBC of the Cavaliers' exemplary performances with the Lyrans, Canopians and the Coalition, as well as their own experience from earlier contracts with the Alliance, the RAAF High Command found it an easy decision to make. In return for their services, the Alliance government allowed them to establish a headquarters on Gunne's World and gave them limited autonomy to seek other contracts, provided they do not interfere with the Cavaliers' primary mission.

This effectively makes them a unit of House D'Avion and the Royalist Alliance, but the arrangement appears to suit both parties for the time being. They have also retained close links with the Coalition. Neither they or the Alliance has no inkling as to the mercenaries' true purpose, but the Inner Sphere can rest easy for now. The recent chaos has left the Clan Grand Council divided about launching a second invasion...for the foreseeable future...