Colonel James Teng

James Teng was a commanding officer in the CCAF at the start of the Fifth Succession War. Well connected through his family, like former Duke of Tikonov Sean Ryan-Teng, he climbed quickly in the military and was viewed as a conservative but effective commander. His fall from grace led him to take dangerous risks, leading to his death while fighting in the Tikonov / Sarna region.

Early Life

James Sun Bei Teng was born on Tikonov in a cadet branch of the Teng family, but was adopted by his uncle Sean Ryan-Teng, who could not have children of his own due to a genetic anomaly. James was soon introduced to a world of violence and repression by his uncle. A loyal subject of the Capellan Confederation, Sean Teng was happy to do the bidding of Maximilian Liao and impose the will of the Celestial Throne wherever it was needed. This strict adherence to duty and survival of the fittest would define James’s life going forward.

After his primary education and evaluation, James Teng attended the Sian Center ofr Martial Discipline. He was a year senior on Tormano Liao, which he was ordered to mentor (and spy on) by a paranoid Maximilian Liao. The two never developed a friendship, Tormano referencing James Teng in some of his essays as “a communo-fascist butcher in the making”. He graduated from the Center of Martial Discipline before taking a 2 year officer cadet course at the Sian University, guaranteeing him a Captain’s commission with the prestigious Kincade’s Rangers.

Military Career

In the Rangers

James Teng’s early career with the Rangers was built around serving in garrison units, generally performing “police duty”. He was quite good at this, and people knew better than to cause any problem when his company was dispatched at a location. The Rangers were not affected during the Fourth Succession War, but James saw his uncle lose his ducal position.

James first taste of real war came during the Andurien Crisis, when the Canopian Taskforce Duo landed on Repulse. While the Rangers were gravely outnumbered and outgunned, they survived the fight partially thanks to Captain Teng’s “never say die” attitude, which also included a “make them suffer” attitude. He was promoted to Major after the unit evacuated the planet.

After recovering and resupplying their unit, Kincade’s Rangers assaulted the planet of Drozan with the help of Warrior House Dai Da Chi. The two unit caught the resting Taskforce Duo and the mercenaries of Caesar’s Cohorts by surprise and routed them easily. James Teng is known to have taken great pleasure in dismantling the Canopian forces and torturing captured prisoners for information.

In 3033, the Rangers retook Repulse from the Canopian by destroying the mercenary unit that was stationed on the planet as garrison. James Teng again proved his dedication to the Capellan cause during the action on the planet, earning him a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, poised to replace the aging Joshua Kincade.

Together with Ishara’s Grenadiers, under the command of his uncle Sean, Kincade’s Rangers then took the planet of Renown by destroying what was left of Drummond’s Destroyers and Jenkin’s Armored Cavalry. Both Tengs were promoted once again for their action, with James taking command of the Rangers and Sean Ryan-Teng getting elevated to Strategic Military Director

Inter-War Period

Sean’s reign as the commander of the CCAF was short-lived, however. In the late 3030s, he attempted to murder one of Romano Liao’s lovers in a hunting session, leading to his arrest. James was requested back to Sian to verify his loyalty to the regime, which he proved by executing his father on the steps of the Celestial Throne. James was then appointed Strategic Military Director by Romano but kept under a close eye by a rotating staff of Maskirovka agents.

During that period, he was known to be ruthless with any form of dissent and opposition to the Liao regime. While some analysts thought this was a defensive mechanism towards Romano Liao, it became clear over the years that James quite enjoyed this position and reputation. It is during this period that he actively hunted down Free Capella groups and had the military purge various “dissident centers”, leading the organization to label James Teng one of the most dangerous man in the Liao regime. He was represented by the Hundred Myriad card in the Money-suited cards used by Free Capella to denote him, under Tsen Shang (Thousand Myriad) and Romano Liao (Myriad Myriad).

Clan Invasion to Operation GUERRERO

The Clan Invasion gave some reprieve to the Strategic Military Director who saw the borders of his realm stripped of some of their potential invaders. With the AFFC busy fighting the Clans, James Teng started to get the troops of the CCAF reequipped with some more modern equipment taken from the Helm’s Memory Core. His request for funding were generally approved quickly by the Celestial Throne, even though Romano Liao disliked the thought of purchasing a lot of upgrade kits from the Free Worlds League, which she still despised.

After the death of Romano and the ascension of Sun Tzu Liao, James Teng was kept on a bit of a tighter leash in terms of his “political cleansings”. Sun Tzu wanted to recapture the heart of the Capellan people and having a political hatchetman as a military commander was not seen as very conducive to this effort. Sun Tzu had Teng focus on mustering additional units for the Capellan Confederation from 3054 to 3057 while maintaining high effectiveness for the existing units.

Operation GUERRERO and the Fifth Succession War

As the newly christened Sang-Jiang-Jun, James Teng was put in charge of Operation GUERRERO by linking with Anne-Marie Van Creveld of the Free Worlds League. The financial backing and political insurances of Thomas Marik allowed the Capellan Confederation to move most of their forces towards the Sarna March to begin the operation. In September 3057, the first phase of the operation retook about 17 worlds through a mix of direct military involvement and local insurgent action from Maskirovka-backed Zhanzheng De Guang.

It was during the second wave of the operation that things went sideways for Teng. Key worlds did not break away from the Federated Commonwealth through a mix of Free Capella partisan action and a more dogged defense by local Field Marshal, Stephen Davion. Teng’s first reflex was to increase the pressure on the local population of occupied worlds, which made the command staff of the CCAF notice an adverse and opposite effect to what Teng had expected.

Sun Tzu Liao quickly attempted to calm things down by appointing Sang-Shao Talon Zahn as special advisor to the Sang-Jiang-Jun. The two men butted head immediately, with Teng petitioning for Zahn to be returned to Sian. As the invasion of the Federated Commonwealth slowed, it became clear that James no longer had the support of the regime with Zahn taking more room on the command floor. Teng was officially removed from command in May 3058 and returned to commanding Kincade’s Rangers.

Final operation and death

Sang-Shao Teng was quite angry at what had happened to him, and he was recalled to Sian, where he was put under the command of Jorgen Nerekov and affected to Operation GUAN XING. His unit was appointed to attack the world of Cammal, which they captured from the Federated Commonwealth after pushing back a ‘Mech Batallion of the 5th Syrtis Fusiliers and associated armor and infantry elements. The disgraced colonel took his time finding elements of Free Capella on the planet and publicly executing them, against the order of both the Chancellor and the commander of the operation.

The Rangers were taken out of the front line and brought to Relevow for garrison operations and to recover. Even on that world, Teng started rounding up “Free Capella sympathizers” and ordering lashing (at best) or execution (at worst). Under order from his mother and counsel from his uncle, Kai Allard-Liao took command of the First St.Ives Lancers and attacked Relevow to capture or kill James Teng. A member of the First Syrtis Lancers was the one to kill Teng through a barrage of Medium Lasers which decapitated James Teng’s Victor.

Personal Life

James Teng was not a good man, from all account. He had taken some of his uncle’s more despicable behaviors and exacerbated them. He was married three times, with two of his wives dying of “mysterious causes” while the last one disappeared one night without leaving a trace. His position and friendship with the Liao regime likely kept him out of the criminal spotlight. Free Capella had put a bounty on Teng’s head in the early 3040s after he used his troops to burn down an entire village suspected of “harboring dissidents”.

After his death, the MechWarrior who officially got the kill shot on his Victor did not want to claim the 1 million c-bill bounty that had been put out on James Teng. The money was used for victims of war in the Tikonov / Sarna region as a charitable donation. The pilot did accept a medal from the St. Ives Compact, however.

James Teng’s BattleMech

James Teng piloted a modern Victor at the start of the Fifth Succession War but originally piloted a Clint when he started his career.

Clan Watch Report

“James Teng shows one of the major issues with the Inner Sphere’s way of promoting military officers through nepotism and family. While he was by not mean a bad officer, he oversaw something far too large for him to handle with Operation GUERRERO. His replacement with Talon Zahn as Strategic Military Director saw a turn in the CCAF’s military decision making which allowed them to keep their gains in the Terran region while also preventing the AFFC from crushing the realm.”