Flanagan’s Repair and Refits

Currently better known for their head engineer video series on the Chatterweb, Flanagan’s Repair and Refits is a the “industrial” arm of the Flanagan family, now residing in the Aurigan Trade Alliance (formerly Kathil). A business combining light industry, ‘mech repair and refits, armor production, counseling and heavy space industry, Flanagan does everything they can to not attract attention as they hide within the Aurigan Reach and offer their services to anyone with enough money to afford their services. Unlike many “periphery rats” and “spheroid”, the Flanagan’s have absolutely no qualm with working with the Clan, especially Clan Sea Fox and Clan Snow Raven.

Origin of the Flanagan’s wealth

Dropship and jumpship knowledge, enough money to field an entire battalion of troops during the Aurigan civil war, the ability to refurbish an old Star League depot and resupply facility. Where did the Flanagan’s find the money to do all of this? The story starts in 2945, with the Flanagan family landing on Kathil from an unmarked dropship, as the matriarch of the clan could no longer live in zero gravity due to a bone illness. While this put them at severe odds with the other “travellers”, the odd zero gravity tribes traveling and trading throughout the Inner Sphere, they still had some wealth along with technical knowledge of the Kearny-Fuchida Drives. Most of the young Flanagan men and women started working in the Kathil Shipworks, until the Flanagan’s also patented a new catalyzer for the Germanium core, increasing their life expectancy by about 18%. By 2956, every new jumpship built throughout the Inner Sphere used the Flanagan catalyzer, paying the license fee to the family. The Flanagan bought a noble title from House Davion for some portion of land on Kathil in 2962, which is where they built a facility producing industrial grade myomer along with investing in a dropship component factory.

Finn Flanagan was a black sheep of the family as he wanted to go back to the “roaming and roving” of his ancestors, especially as the Travellers kept coming and challenging the clan for their abandonment of their way. Running away to the Aurigan Reaches in search of fortune and adventure, Finn Flanagan got more than he bargained for, but he also improved the wealth of his family with his military expertise. As the new head of the family with the death of his brother Connor, Finn moved most of his clan and their infrastructure to Artru after the 4^th Succession War.

While the Highwaymen mercenary / house troops unit was a good source of income, the Repair and Refits company using the leftover Star League supply facility on Artru served as a steadier income source, especially as the Flanagan were never scrupulous as to who could bring ‘mechs, vehicles and dropships for repairs and refits. Sharing the cost with Gwendor-Dorwinion to build full jumpship (and later warship) drydocks and berths in orbit of Artru further increased the income of the Clan.

Another major source of income came from direct dealing with the Lone/Rogue Aimag of the Diamond Sharks and then Sea Fox, as once again the lack of scruples of the Flanagan meant that they didn’t care if they were making friends with “enemies of the Inner Sphere”. The Clans had never caused any issues for the Rimward periphery, at least not compared to most other spheroid parties. The trade was actively two-way, as the Sharks/Fox bought raw materials and basic processed goods from the Flanagan and their allies in the Aurigan Trade Alliance, trading them originally for basic goods but expanding to weaponry, expertise in recharge station construction and all other sorts of necessary goods.

Travellers in the Inner Sphere

Many people wonder how the Inner Sphere can hold together with how big it is and how so many planets barely have the production capacity to maintain their population needs. Once you start digging, you realize a lot of it comes from the Travellers, a common sight when you look at civilian jumpships floating around the greater human controlled space. Most Travellers show up in a system, come down on the planet selling whatever they bring over and buying anything they can further trade down the line and move on. While they have a terrible reputation in general with most people also not appreciating their “carnie behavior”, many worlds still understand that they could not survive effectively without their help.

Most of the Spheroid powers know better than to cause issues to the Travellers for that reason, but often their ships get deputized or requisitioned for military operations, where the Travellers ask for full restitution and cost of repairs from established military outfits and house militaries. Mercenaries also use the transport service of the Travellers whenever possible, as the Travellers always accept money for services rendered. ComStar tried to infiltrate many Traveller organizations, but ROM was faced with the tightknit family / clan structure of the Travellers which often turned infiltrated agents to actually “go native” rather than reporting back.

The Travellers originate from a combination of Irish travellers, Roma, and North American Indian tribes, and have a “secret language” which is a mix of Gaelic, Roma and Cree which is not taught to anyone not part of the Traveller community. To join the Travellers is very difficult, as one must prove their worth to the greater tribes and swear blood allegiance to the Travellers. Punishment for transgression against the tribe is severe, generally leading to capital punishment.

Religion within the Traveller is another strange thing, as they worship various entities which “come to life” at various tribal meetings. Those entities have a variety of rules which they impose on the tribes, ranging from not being able to remain in the same place for more than a week to dietary restrictions. The Flanagan tribe’s transgression required them to fight against their “god” every few years in blood duels, until they settled Artru which they claimed was the new holy land of the roaming gods. Every 10 or so years now, a lot of the “entities” meet on Artru and make decisions for the greater tribal community.

Travellers have been mostly kinder towards the Clans than the Inner Sphere, as their social structure is somewhat similar, and the travellers easily can “slot themselves in” Clan hierarchy as merchants and labor caste members, and outside of Clan Jade Falcon and formerly Clan Smoke Jaguars, the other Clans realized the necessity of the existence of the Travellers within the Inner Sphere to let the whole system exist.

Flanagan’s Repair and Refits

Company Overview (circa 3150)

Headquarter: Castle Nautilus, Artru, Aurigan Coalition

CEO: Kieran Flanagan

Overview

Finn Flanagan was a Coromodir Militia officer at the start of the Aurigan Civil War, whose family held a noble title on Kathil, in the Federated Suns. Surviving the massacre of the loyalist troops by House Espinoza, he ran back to his familial home and raised what amounted to a company of “mercenaries” who acted against the interests of the Aurigan Directorate in a mix of piracy and terrorist action until the return of Lady Kamea Arano, who “permanently” hired his unit, the Highwaymen. Serving with distinction during the actual civil war against both Taurian probing forces and during major conflicts of the war, Flanagan was rewarded for his action with a noble title (at his request) of Duke of Artru.

The world of Artru was a hellscape with only a token population of miners living in orbital stations, so most of the other lords and ladies of the Aurigan reaches didn’t mind a half-mercenary claiming such a world, but Finn Flanagan knew that this world actually was a major prize due to the seriously damaged remains of a Star League era Castle Brian. Excavation of the Castle Brian began in earnest as soon as Finn Flanagan secured funding from his familial holding, which he now inherited in full after his brother died in a hunting accident. As more money and people were required, Flanagan did make a few agreements with the New Avalon Institute of Science to send them any copy of advanced technology that could be recovered to them in exchange for manpower and research grants. In the opening months of the 4^th Succession War, the Highwaymen were reactivated with some support from House Arano and began serving with the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns against House Liao, securing again more money and salvage.

Throughout the following years, the Highwaymen served in many conflicts throughout the Inner Sphere, most of which were to finance the development of Artru and its infrastructure. By the beginning of the 3040s, the underground facilities of the Castle Brian were ready to operate, producing early generation ferro-fibrous armor, basic heat sinks, autocannon ammunition and their own type of Kawabata Ultra autocannon-5 class. Access to NAIS resources allowed them to further improve their heat sink production line by the end of the 3040s to produce the very advanced double heat sinks (for the era). While the production was mostly for export to the Capellan Marches (mostly Kathil and New Syrtis), as the production capacity improved, all local active military forces received upgrade kits for their battlemechs, same with the various Aurigan militia forces which were able to pay for them. Repair and refit services on Artru became something of an open secret in the Rimward periphery, as most mercenary units (along with some of the more scrupulous pirates which acted as privateer for the Aurigan traders) brought their prizes to Artru for full refit, re-equip and upgrade service. This was also done in large amounts by any allied military forces in the Aurigan Reaches and all Aurigan Coalition member militaries.

With the Clan invasion, Flanagan Repair and Production sold massive amounts of their spare parts and equipment to the armies of the Federated Commonwealth and Draconis Combine, while some of their military “franchises” served on the Clan border mainly as raiders and attacking solahma units in already conquered worlds. One thing Liam Flanagan, who was serving as the commander in that region, did was often claim Clan technicians and scientists as bondsmen, quickly freeing them to have them assist with their talent in the FRP business. This type of behavior kept on until after Operation Bulldog, where many labor and tech caste members of Clan Smoke Jaguar who were in the occupation zone became “refugees” in the Aurigan Reaches, preferring this to absorption or extermination. This was facilitated by Clan Diamond Shark through a very lucrative trade agreement with FRP, which has been ongoing to this day. Another boon came with the collapse of The Society within Clan space. With the assistance of Clan Diamond Shark, quite a significant number of technician and scientists fled Clan space for a place that would be as far as possible from their homeworlds who wanted them dead for what amounted to heresy.

Around 3058, FRP had secured the plans and rights to build a few orbital drydocks allowing them to build and refit dropships and the odd jumpship which required it, leading to the production of copies of the Clan Broadsword-class dropship with mostly Inner Sphere parts and the basic Leopard-class dropships in limited amounts, but still in numbers larger then what would be expected for a minor nation in the periphery. Civilian dropship-classes were also built, like the Mule-class and Monarch-class, mainly to pay for the other bills. The end goal, of course as with many things done by FRP, was to develop something rather new. By 3063, the first new dropship based off the Boeing Interstellar Argo-class, the Odysseus-class, was launched to support the Highwaymen units and other Aurigan Armed Forces units. While only about 1 of these could be built a year, this was enough for the needs of their members.

Allowing the diffusion of Clan science and knowledge, FRP improved their production technology over the course of the end of the 31^st century and by the start of the 32^nd century, a significant number of material produced by FRP was to Clan-specification, leading them to sell significant amounts of it to their good friend within Clan Diamond Shark, later Clan Sea Fox (odd fact: the seas of Artru and on a few other worlds in the Aurigan Reaches now have a significant population of Sea Foxes, along with a small population of actual Diamond Sharks). While the current leadership of FRP is still composed of “freebirth”, the next generation of leaders for both their military arm (the Highwaymen) and the production arm have gone through iron womb and a selection program built around more meritocratic means rather than simple succession.

Manufacturing

Local production of FRP is listed here:

The Highwaymen

History

The Highwaymen began as a company of privateers and raiders attacking the Espinoza Directorate and Taurian Concordat during the Aurigan Civil War. Theft, sabotage and other underhanded methods were not unknown to them during the entire Civil War, which did make the first commander, Finn Flanagan, richer then he should have been as a renegade commander. While he inherited a noble title after the Civil War, taking over the desolate world of Artru as “duke”, Finn Flanagan still served as a military commander while his company started digging out and rebuilding Artru’s Castle Brian.

The first operation outside of the Aurigan Reaches by the Highwaymen were during the 4^th Succession War, supporting the Federated Suns as a mix of mercenary unit and citizen task force from the Aurigan Coalition for the defense of the nation against Liao aggression (which had always been a problem). Again, the Highwaymen generally resorted to what amounted to privateering during part of the war, diverting the attention of local militias and underarmed forces while the Davion sledgehammer dug through the Capellan Confederation. The Highwaymen also participated in the Battle of Kathil in a limited fashion, having used the Flanagan’s estate on the planet as a staging ground for their operations while the battle occurred. The battle led to the first jumpship being held privately by the Flanagan family since “landing” on Kathil, a prize taken from the invading Capellan forces as a reward for their service by Morgan Hasek-Davion before his daring raid against the Capellan capital.

The Andurien conflict was the next set of operations where the Highwaymen decided to operate, again, semi-independently of the Aurigan Coalition Military of the time. Assisting House Liao at that time, however, Flanagan extracted some concessions by the Capellan mandarins to increase trade with associated Aurigan worlds and possibly reducing the vying for influence by the Capellan in the Aurigan Reaches region. Not as active as during the previous conflicts, the Highwaymen still assisted with the defense of multiple Capellan world in a “humanitarian” fashion, as opposed to their previous military actions. More of such “humanitarian” action was done during the so-called “Ronin War” in the newly formed Rasalhague Republic, where the Highwaymen officially acted as peacekeepers in the name of House Arano.

The Highwaymen’s friendship with House Davion was tested during the War of 3039, where Prince Hanse Davion attempted to activate them as a regular Federated Commonwealth troop while they officially served under the Aurigan Coalition Military. The result was a bit of a mess and most of it is lost to history, as rumor wants it the Highwaymen basically attacked and took prizes from both side of the conflict rather than pledge allegiance to anyone, while at the same time making sure civilians and citizens of both sides were treated well and no war crimes were committed under their nose. While this put a strain on the relations with both House Kurita and the Federated Commonwealth, sales of ferro-fibrous armor to House Kurita and some of the new “freezer” heat sinks to House Davion built on Artru helped mitigate some of that distaste. For some time after this, the Highwaymen served as a training “aggressor” regiment to the new Aurigan Armed Forces and as a peacekeeper force on some planets where civil unrest or foreign aggression took place through most of the 3040s.

The Clan Invasion was a mix of boons and bane for the Highwaymen, as they served on the border with the Taurian Concordat at the start of the invasion as tension were rising between the two nations, which rapidly dropped when both sides realized the bigger fish they had to fry was coming, albeit from the other end of the known space. As the Clan fell back after the death of Leo Showers, the Highwaymen served in a humanitarian way again, moving in to rescue civilian populations in the Clan Occupation Zone, an extremely dangerous endeavor which they still excelled at, mostly using their old hit and run tactics and playing the Clan’s honor against them. The biggest prize won during these operations was a Clan Jade Falcon jumpship, won in a Trial against the local garrison commander over a drinking contest. (AY: Note to any readers of this report: You cannot drink a Flanagan under the table. I have an elemental Star Commander who tried and suffered alcohol poisoning because of it. We believe that they have potentially a special gene which makes them perfectly adapted to alcohol, and their own eugenics program seems to be taking advantage of this.)

The Highwaymen served during Operation BULLDOG as House Arano’s participation to the new Star League, but mainly served in, once again, humanitarian manners and as rearguard for the main strike force, liberating worlds and populations from under Smoke Jaguar control. A side-effect of this, however, was that the Highwaymen learned more and more about the Clan’s lower castes, and as they understood more and more Clan culture, they arranged for those lower caste members to come to their territory as refugees, arranging transport through various means, including assistance from Clan Diamond Shark. This type of assistance kept going for Clan Nova Cat as well as they faced Abjuration, a policy which many within the Draconis Combine now view as quite problematic.

Throughout the Federated Commonwealth Civil War, the Highwaymen once again acted as humanitarian protectors, generally trying to not take a side but ending up on Archon Victor Steiner-Davion’s side due to their inaction in helping Katrina Steiner-Davion. It is during that time that the ACCS Andrew Davion defected to the Highwaymen, preferring to serve the Aurigan Armed Forces then fight against their own citizens. Friendship between the captain of the Andrew, Colleen McLeod and Liam Flanagan, having both served in Operation BULLDOG, might very well explain this more.

The Jihad was a very difficult period for the Highwaymen, as their desire to act once against as a “humanitarian force” was stopped by the recklessness of the Word of Blake Jihad, which assaulted the Aurigan Reaches in full force from 3075 to 3078, along with large numbers of Marik-affiliated forces. While the damage to the Aurigan Armed Forces and Aurigan territory was limited, deaths in the high command of various units slowed down the Highwaymen.

In more recent times, the Highwaymen have been serving as a mobile task force within the Aurigan Coalition and the various Aurigan Trade Alliance holdings, not having left the Aurigan Reaches in large numbers even as part of their franchise program, making sure that their now weakened, but always hungry, neighbor do not try to gobble up the Aurigan Reaches and its industrial and trade might. Capellan and Federated aggression is a constant issue in the region, same with the lack of control of the Fronc Reach over their own constituents, all this linked with the collapse of the Taurian Concordat, making the Highwaymen far busier than a normal military unit normally should be.

Officers

Tactics

The Highwaymen tactics changed over the years and depends heavily on if the unit in question is a line unit of the Aurigan Highwaymen or simply one of their “franchise”, but there are some standards that the Highwaymen have developed over the years. The first is the standard embodied by most of the Aurigan Armed Forces, where they prefer reliable and robust machines over more advanced and fragile ones, allowing for simpler supply lines and logistic chains. Another one is the presence of at least one fast cavalry unit composed of jump capable battlemechs per formation, generally called “Alpine unit” as they are trained in the mountains of Artru. Highwaymen units are also known for trying to keep their targets as much “in one piece” as possible for potential salvage and even full recovery.

Units of the Aurigan Highwaymen

3151:

• 1^st Highwaymen Regiment “Finnegan’s Wake” (Elite / Reliable)
  • More than half of the 1^st regiment uses full Clan-tech battlemechs, either locally produced, purchased from the Sea Fox or procured during various expeditions.
• 2^nd Highwaymen Regiment “Black Velvet Band” (Regular / Reliable)
  • Mostly composed of modern Aurigan battlemechs, along with the odd Clan mech and some Inner Sphere designs.
• 3^rd Highwaymen Regiment, Home Guard “Rocky Road” (Regular / Fanatic)
  • Various battlemechs used by the home guard are test-beds and proof-of-concept battlemechs using experimental technology or linking various pieces of technology that is not really meant to work well together.

Color Scheme and Uniform

While each independent franchise is allowed control over their base uniform, the full-dress uniform of all Aurigan Highwaymen is light green with blue stripes and silver pins and feature a shamrock and harp, along with a red beret, symbolizing the sacrifice the Highwaymen will always make for the Aurigan Coalition and its members.

Unit Insignia

Each battalion directly attached to the Highwaymen have their own insigna based on the original, a green and blue background with a harp in the middle, surrounded by several shamrocks defining their position in the order of battle.

The Third Close Assault Batallion is unique in that their patch replaces the shamrocks with a jaguar, a falcon, and a large cat, defining the three largest group of Clan members who have joined the Highwaymen over the years.

Flanagan’s Repair and Refits Personnel files

Kieran Flanagan

Position: CEO

Race: Human, freeborn, Traveller

Age: 56 years old

Pilots: EMP-6D Emperor (Customized)

General demeanor: Ruthless, profit-minded

Kieran Flanagan is Colm Flanagan first son, and while his position in the company was not determined by his birth, he wanted it from the very start. Not the greatest mechwarrior even though he spent most of his youth training for it, he still rose in the Highwaymen up to a Captain position (which he technically still holds in the Home Guard) before concentrating most of his mind on business and acquisitions. Personable but ruthless, Kieran went around looking for the best talent possible to improve the Repairs and Refits division and the black water dry dock division. When the CEO position came up after Robert Flanagan retired, Kieran jumped on the opportunity in the trial for the position, where his military prowess was eclipsed by his business acumen and his deal making ability. As he didn’t want anything to do with command of the Highwaymen, he split the position off so another Flanagan could take that over.

Kieran has great relationship with Sean Flanagan, the commander of the Highwaymen after his niece Kathy died. As far as the rest of the Aurigan Trade Alliance goes, most of the others noble houses and leaders don’t mind Kieran because he is good at the thing that makes them all happy: making money and making other people make money. Striking agreements with Clan Sea Fox, *REDACTED* and *FOR YOUR EYES ONLY*, new factories have popped up throughout the Aurigan Reaches along the Fronc Reaches, while the Taurians have begun bringing more and more equipment for repair and reconstruction to Artru, including 2 skeletons of Concordat-class Frigates to be rebuilt to modern specifications thanks to assistance from *FOR YOUR EYES ONLY*. ovKhan Andrew Yung, of Clan Sea Fox, is often seen on Artru, basically using the Flanagan’s location as his “front office”, with Kieran Flanagan being his most direct point of contact.

Kieran lost a hand in a freak accident in the factory, which he replaced with a high-quality mechanical prosthetics even though he was offered a fully regrown limb. Outside of this, he looks like a massive ox of a man, keeping his head shaved but with a large salt and pepper beard and thick neck. He generally wears business suits based on the season of the year, and is rarely seen without a cigar in his hand, even though he apparently never smokes them.

Sean Flanagan

Position: General, Flanagan’s Highwaymen

Callsign: Rush

Race: Human, Trueborn Mechwarrior phenotypes, Traveller

Age: 29

Pilots: Highlander IICenough

General demeanor: OCD Neat freak, risk adverse military commander

Sean Flanagan inherited the position of General in the Flanagan’s Highwaymen when his auth, Kathleen Flanagan, died in a mission fighting pirates on the outer Rim. During the trial of position for the role, Sean was seen to be an exceptional mechwarrior, but also a shrewd tactician which favored minimizing losses, which was favored by the selection board at the time. While young, he had the support of Kieran Flanagan and multiple officers in the Highwaymen, many of whom were ready to teach him more about command.

Most of Sean Flanagan’s experience comes from hunting pirates and humanitarian action throughout the raging Inner Sphere, but with the Fronc War, he gained some much needed “front-line action” to develop his talents as a commander.

Sean is a rather large man with red hair, but always clean shaven. His eyes are dark green with a small scar under the left eye from a combat injury. He keeps his uniform clean at all time, being a bit of a neat freak.

Andrew Yung

Position: ovKhan of the Lone Aimag, Galaxy Commander

Race: Human, Trueborn Mechwarrior Phenotype

Age: 49

Pilots: Used to be a Kingfisher, recently replaced by an Amarok

General demeanor: “The risk is worth it”, loving every second of his best life.

Andrew Young is what happens a Clan warrior fully embraces being dezgra. The Yung bloodhouse he comes from has overseen “special operations and trading expeditions” in the Rimward Periphery, where the dishonored warriors, “useless solhama” and “decrepit old warriors” were thrown in. With the formation of the aimags, these operations became later known as “the Lone Aimag”, a group of warrior-merchants of which nothing was expected of.

Andrew’s predecessor, Johnathan Yung, had already established strong ties with Flanagan’s and the Taurian / Calderon government. Andrew worked even harder to make these ties permanent, with his group having more or less “gone native” at this point, reporting to the Sea Fox Khan only when really required. Mori Hawker honestly does not care much, as long as the ressources from the Rimward periphery keeps flowing into the new Sea Fox factories throughout the Inner Sphere. Andrew Yung also started a new corporation, “Yung Weapons”, in an undisclosed location and has been providing a variety of VTOLs and combat vehicles to local Rimward powers and militias, using the profits from this to acquire more resources to send to Mori Hawker’s ever-hungry factories.

Andrew Yung appears to be of “mixed” ancestry even though he is a trueborn mechwarrior, apparently a mix of East Asian and Caucasian. He keeps his long hair in a ponytail most of the times when outside of his mech cockpit. While his Clan uniform is worn at most time when on his ship, he switches easily to more “formal” business clothes whenever dealing with other Periphery businessmen and women. It is rumored a lot of the détente between the Taurian Concordat and Calderon Protectorate is thanks to Andrew Yung.

Etienne Sirois

Amelia Sirois (Hell’s Horse)

Position: Captain, Flanagan’s Highwaymen

Callsign: Marple

Race: Human, Trueborn Mechwarrior phenotypes, Traveller-By-Adoption

Age: 39

Pilots: Nova Cat (used to be a Shadow Cat)

General demeanor: Inquisitive, motherly

Amelia Hell’s Horse was a failure after her original trial of position, where she decisively won her mechwarrior position, but not much else. Serving in various operations which were all doomed to failure, she accumulated the bad marks on her service record, up to the point where she was dumped, rather unceremoniously, to serve “until death” on a research station on a volcanic planet. At that point, she didn’t have any hopes for the future, until the planet was on the verge of basically blowing up, which led the Flanagan’s Highwaymen to perform one of their “legendary” humanitarian aid mission. With “Prof” Sirois defeating her Star Commander, Amelia Hell’s Horse was pulled out of the planet before it ended.

The four mechwarriors of the doomed star were given the opportunity to join the Highwaymen, which they accepted, with Amelia being given a temporary role as Lance commander as they headed back to Artru, performing a few more humanitarian jobs on the way back from Hell’s Horse space. While not understanding most of Traveller culture, Amelia did start working on getting into the company proper. Her skills as a detective became apparent at that time as she started finding details about the secrets of the Flanagan’s and their Traveller ancestry.

On Artru, Amelia and her starmate Jennifer sneaked up on a Traveller secret meeting but were captured, and the Amotken of the Clan wanted to execute the two, before Prof Sirois announced he would marry her, while Sean Flanagan decided to Jennifer would be his wife going forward. The blooding ceremony still required both Clan women to fight the Amotken and draw blood from him, which they succeeded with some difficulty.

Amelia being infertile due to her dezgra status in Clan Hell’s Horse, the Society of Friends scientists serving as the keeper of the Aurigan Ironwombs created artificial eggs for her and inseminated them with her husband’s seed, allowing them to have 3 children anyways.

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