Raju Montgomery

Raju Montgomery
Personal
Also known as	Mastiff
Born	2967
Died	3025
Affiliation	Aurigan Coalition
Profile
Rank	Captain of the Guard
Profession	MechWarrior

Raju Montgomery was a battle-scarred former mercenary with nearly 40 years of combat experience. In addition to mercenary work, Montgomery served as Captain of the Guard to the House Arano Royal Guard, training their scions in the art of war. The Ladies Kamea Arano and Victoria Espinosa both benefited from his training.

History

Little is known about Raju's personal history before becoming a MechWarrior, but it was known that before he was a part of the Aurigan Royal Guard, he was a mercenary who served with the Lyran Commonwealth. He would train a young noble to become a skilled MechWarrior at the age of sixteen and later crossed paths again during their early adolescences.

In 3019, High Lord Tamati Arano II of the Aurigan Coalition hired the Markham's Marauders mercenary unit to assist the Royal Guard in eliminating a pirate clan on Fjaldr. While successful, both units would take heavy losses in the brutal three month campaign, with Montgomery earning the Marauders' respect for treating them as equal partners rather than using the mercenaries as cannon fodder like many others would have.

Raju would offer the young MechWarrior a job in the Royal Guards. There he would help the MechWarrior run maintenance over their Blackjack. During the coup he and the MechWarrior would ensure Kamea's safety upon escorting her off Coromodir VI. With Kamea successfully away, Raju and the Mechwarrior would face a Directorate ambush led by Victoria Espinosa until the MechWarrior's Blackjack was sabotaged. Realizing this he ordered the Mechwarrior to eject from the mech and fight another day while he would duel Victoria. Raju shouted insults about her father, driving Victoria into a fury. Outnumbered and outgunned by the Directorate's forces, he nonetheless fought until the bitter end. His Centurion was downed and he was presumed to be dead, however it was later discovered that Raju survived; he was extracted from the wreckage, and then later transferred to a prison camp on the planet Weldry, where he would live out the rest of his days alongside other political prisoners who fell afoul of the Directorate's draconian rulings.

Death

“	By the time our forces found him it was too late. I'm sorry Kamea.	”
	— Alexander informing Lady Kamea about Raju's passing

Raju Montgomery was initially presumed dead fighting against the Aurigan Directorate ambush on Coromodir, but was later found during the raid on the infamous "Icebox" facility on Weldry. Lady Kamea was there and personally participated in the attack alongside her Mercenary allies, but ultimately they were too late; Raju succumbed to the injuries he sustained at the hands of his captors and passed away at some point prior to the camp being liberated, possibly during the attack itself. Horrified, Lady Arano gathered his body and put him in a bodybag for burial, whilst the Mercenary crew speculated that Victoria ordered Raju receive "special" treatment to make him suffer for defying her on Coromodir. Despite being shaken by the experience, Kamea would use Raju's death and the treatment of the other prisoners as an inspiration for her Restoration to fight the Directorate.

BattleMechs

Raju Montgomery piloted a CN9-A Centurion BattleMech.

Notes

Birth year is a guess based on age in character profile given in Kickstarter update and assuming timeline of 3025.

Canonicity

Featured only in the apocryphal BattleTech video game, the character of Raju Montgomery is apocryphal as well.

Behind The Scenes

Raju's voice was portrayed by actor Michael Blum.

Bibliography

• BattleTech (Video Game)
• Harebrained Schemes LLC: Kickstarter Update #33: "Introducing the Main Characters"