Rysel Corporate War
I have had quite enough of this charade, father. Since I uncovered the embezzlement from the company, and was able to trace where it was going, this meeting has been inevitable. The board of directors must be made aware of this, and actions must be taken to remove you from control of the company. If need be, several key members of the board will also be replaced. Because you are blood, I will give you this single chance to back down. If you don't, I will not stop until this madness is buried.
During the end of the 30th century, Rysel Industries had begun a downward spiral due to several financial issues traced to irregularities in accounting. After tracking down the thread, Sorvetz Reisel was stunned to discover the scope of what was happening and began a drastic action known to those who knew of it as 'The Rysel Corporate War'. A bloody conflict between mercenaries hired by both sides wound up spanning a large section of the coreward Lyran Commonwealth with what was officially called "a small internal matter" despite the use of several companies of BattleMechs and support vehicles. Only a handful still alive outside the Lyran Intelligence Corps know what happened, and the LIC files have been so thoroughly classified it's difficult to receive any information on it other than "it happened". Even ComStar professes to have lost records, including Mercenary Review Board records, of the event in question and internally there is a very definite discouragement to look into the conflict.
The Beginning
In 2957, Jacob Reiseille began a series of hidden projects, siphoning resources from his company with the aid of the current board of directors. His son was only dimly aware something was happening, but it was not until he got his hands on information in December of 2977 the full scope of what was happening was revealed. He confronted his father in a private meeting behind closed doors which ended in violence and security being forced to intervene. Despite the altercation, Sorvetz held himself in check and avoided allowing anyone in the company to know his plans. He began gathering up mercenary outfits who were willing to lend him platoons of infantry, Lances of BattleMechs, and combat vehicles should it come to it. Along the same time he was rapidly gathering support among people in the company he could trust, mostly from middle-level management but with a few on the board of directors who were not entirely on board with Jacob's vision.The first move was made during a quarterly budget meeting, as Sorvetz moved to present evidence about budget irregularities. Jacob, sensing where this was going, attempted to stop the motion but support from two other directors allowed it to go through. As the presentation was made plain the trillions of C-Bills which had been siphoned from the company into a pet project called "Tuatha Dea", most of the board grew uncomfortable as bribes were also made plain due to the assistance of several people in the accounting departments. Jacob became livid, and once more attempted physical force, shouting he disowned his son and wanted him out of the building. In contrast, Sorvetz calmly remarked it was clear the Chief Executive was no longer fit for his position, could not be trusted, and should be replaced. Realizing he had lost enough ground, Jacob simply walked out with three of his closest supporters on the board and departed for parts unknown.
The Thorin Incident
Units bearing the emblem of an orange dragon swallowing its own tail inside a grey triangle engaged corporate defenses for Rysel Industries on Thorin. Giving no warning and replying to no attempts to communicate, it was assumed this was a mercenary group gone rogue by the local forces. Sorvetz had been preparing for a move like this, and had hired on the Black Fang Mercenaries, an outfit boasting a near-battalion strength. Throwing back the attack still caused a considerable amount of property damage, but it was this incident which drove Sorvetz to begin investigating inside the headquarters for who might have aided in planning the attack. After discovering several members of the security forces missing from their posts and not among the dead, it was presumed they had become turncoats and helped shepherd the attackers' DropShips to a safe location where they could organize. The Black Fang Mercenaries were then mobilized fully, and one division of them was entrusted to begin training replacements for the corporate security. As many other facilities would not answer HPG communications and weeks expecting a reply became months, Sorvetz presumed the silent facilities were accomplices and began to draw out a campaign plan with the commander of the Black Fang.Public records which remain available show the Rysel Industries locations through the Lyran Commonwealth territories began either wearing the orange dragon or black wolf symbols as a show of allegiances. The two sides became known as 'The Ouroboros' and 'Black Wolves' unofficially, usually referred to only in internal communications which are still available for review. Those who remained loyal to Sorvetz also began to institute their own purges from employees and associates, surrendering all related information directly to him through courier ships than to trust ComStar with the data. It had become suspected Jacob was still leveraging his status as the known CEO to intercept and disrupt attempts to use ComStar services, and as such friendly JumpShip captains were pressed into service as couriers among the dozen systems loyal to the company under Sorvetz.
The Sakhalin Offensive
The first major offensive was in the Sakhalin system, over a suspected cache of Star League Defense Force materials. The Black Fang dispatched Garou Company to handle it, and it was soon discovered there was a considerable force available to the Ouroboros agents. They clashed with two lances of BattleMechs which were in incredible condition, and incredible shots; however, their lack of apparent discipline wound up allowing Garou Company to push them back and soon seize their base of operations. What was found quickly was brought to Sorvetz Reisel, and soon the Garou Company survivors were trusted with rooting out similar locations and cells of agents. This became known in records as 'the Sakhalin Offensive' since it had been the first action of the operation. Most of the information around this operation has been gathered from sources which preferred to remain anonymous, due to the extreme nature of the conspiracy to bury what had happened. A few mercenary commands on Port Moseby in particular claimed they wanted no part of the information, as they had specifically avoided becoming involved in the operation despite contract offers from both sides.Around Sakhalin on both sides of the Commonwealth/Combine border, there had been cells operating by moving equipment into the Commonwealth from yakuza-owned operations inside the Combine. Several battles flared up between Garou Company and the yakuza enforcers attempting to protect their lines of income, but after a significant battle on Dalkeith in 2980 inside a condemned mine complex which wreaked major losses on both sides the yakuza withdrew their support for the Ouroboros and new equipment became less common.
Skirmish on Phalan
Despite being a constant system being used for transit and resupply by Lyran and Combine forces during the Third Succession War (and later the Ouroboros and Black Fang forces), Phalan was studiously given a pass on almost all the fighting due to there being no Rysel facility on the planet. However, the Ouroboros had a small resupply base on the Jedora continent near the equatorial line and had placed their 'Wolfsbane Company' to protect it. The company itself was composed of unskilled and green combatants who had yet to see actual combat, but were willing to work for what they saw as easy money. Similarly, when Sorvetz became aware of the base's location he dismissed action against it as Garou Company was still too weak to commit to action. However, it is suspected he somehow had a hand in what was to come.Nobody anticipated the Golden Oak mercenary command using a pirate point to drop on Phalan within an hour, and assault the supply base in a lightning raid designed to mostly seize any assets which could be crammed into their Union-class DropShip quickly. Both commands wound up suffering considerable losses, but the Ouroboros lost a great deal of valuable minerals and materials required to repair their forces; minerals which were rarer after Dalkeith was being watched by the recuperating Garou Company. Reluctantly, Phalan was scratched off as a potential place of resupply and sub-sequentially the Ouroboros now was limited to a small selection of systems which were being slowly narrowed down.
The Glengarry Defense
In early 2981, Sorvetz and the Black Fang soon narrowed down the location an Ouroboros base which had been moving military supplies purchased on Hesperus. Seeking to disrupt the flow of new equipment and weapons, a plan was drawn up which threw the two remaining companies of the Black Fang entirely at a facility on Glengarry. It's not entirely clear how the Ouroboros agents managed to gain the trust of the local residents, but many of them actively inhibited efforts to locate Ouroboros assets on the planet. Records recovered from Glengarry by Grayson Carlyle's forces much later suggested there was an active campaign by the Black Fangs to forego attempting to negotiate and simply "pacify" any settlements which they suspected were harboring Ouroboros agents. This explained why few locals followed through with any attempts of Rysel Pharmaceuticals to cultivate a broader presence, even decades later.The vicious fighting drew attention of the Duke of Skye, who was busy with the Succession War planning, and by the time his demand to cease making a situation worse reached Glengarry there was no more situation. The Black Fangs were forced into several intense battles which ended with all Ouroboros agents listed as casualties and very little information to show for it. Reportedly, the losses the mercenaries suffered were a greater reason they slowed their activities in 2981 instead of official noble attention being drawn to the conflict. Over 40% of the two companies dispatched to Glengarry were lost and 54% of ground forces were listed as "neutralized" officially.
The Dromini Extraction
In December of 2981, information was passed on to Sorvetz Reisel from a traitor in the Ouroboros ranks who claimed to be a high-placed scientist. As part of a group doing research on Dromini in the Combine, she was able to piece together what the eventual goal of Jacob Reiseille and the Ouroboros was to be and found it distasteful enough to follow her conscience and switch sides. However, she demanded safe passage to the Free Worlds League after the conflict was finished, and after viewing the information Sorvetz agreed with one condition. She was required to decrypt any data uncovered as part of the operation being planned on Dromini. She agreed, and was hidden away so completely no record suggests where she wound up other than a lack of reference to her death.Garou Company was employed in a very cautious insertion onto Dromini where the compound was said to be, and soon discovered an active medical laboratory which was rapidly attempting to scuttle their databases. Three hours later, following a daring raid by a covert squad and a delaying action by mercenaries hired to assist Garou Company, large portions of the databases were instead uploaded to the DropShip 'Alethea' in orbit. The mercenaries were then left to extract themselves while Garou Company used what little aerospace support it had remaining to evade Draconis Combine forces belonging to the Legion of Vega.
As the information was delivered to Rigil Kentares and the operational headquarters of the Black Fang, it was recorded Sorvetz immediately dropped everything he had been doing within Rysel Industries and to help plan the operations to immediately pull all forces for an attack on Carnwath slated for February 2982. Lost messages sent through ComStar and several JumpShips falling victim to small system failures wound up delaying the action until March, giving the Ouroboros enough time to concentrate all their remaining forces in the defense of their last facility on Carnwath.
The Battle of Loup-Masque
The final battle of the Rysel Corporate War happened on March 15, 2982, as Black Fang forces and some associated small mercenary outfits dropped on Carnwath with all the subtlety of a 'Lyran Scout Formation'. The Battle of Loup-Masque was a brutal business which wound up crippling the Black Fang entirely as a combat unit and held no small repercussions for Sorvetz personally and Rysel Industries as a whole. In the immediate aftermath, a great deal of assets were sold off on the other side of the Draconis Combine border, and negotiations to expand into the Free Worlds League (put on hold when Sorvetz began the conflict) were quietly dropped by mutual agreement. In the end, it wound up costing several trillion C-Bills to prosecute the activities of the Black Fangs and the liquidation of many assets - no embezzled funds which Jacob had invested in the Ouroboros were ever recovered.Aftermath
Following this conflict, the Black Fangs officially were disbanded and filed the necessary paperwork with the Mercenary Review Board and ComStar. Rysel Industries divested themselves of all holdings save for Rysel Pharmaceuticals and Rysel Medical Labs. Rumors persist this decision was handed down from Archon Alessandro Steiner himself. The heir of the company was named to be Hechek Reisel, the only daughter Sorvetz would ever have. It was also said Sorvetz had become a widower as part of this war, a fact which interviewers have found to cause an immediate end to any interview.Development resumed very carefully of new facilities over the next decade. Glengarry became a location where Rysel Pharmaceuticals placed a Research and Development facility, suspiciously close to the worst locations of conflict on the planet. Asta was the first attempt to reconnect with holdings in the Draconis Combine, though it soon failed miserably enough to dissuade Sorvetz from trying to develop it as more than a distribution point. Port Moseby wound up becoming a system of interest, and soon Rysel Industries was providing discounted medical supplies to any who suffered the aftermath of the Third Succession War. And as part of an agreement with the Margrave of Skye, corporate security forces were forbidden from operating BattleMechs and limited to combat vehicles of sixty tons or lighter.
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