Editing Terry Ford

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| name                = Terry Ford
| birthdate           = 
| died                = 
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Illician Lancers]]
| rank                = [[MechWarrior (rank)|MechWarrior]]
| title               = 
| position            = Order Master at Arms<ref name=MS42>''Mercenaries Supplemental'', Page 42</ref>
| profession          = [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]] 
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = [[Alexandra Steward]]<ref name=MS42></ref>
| children            = [[James Ford]]<br> Two Other Children<ref name=MS42></ref>
}}
MechWarrior '''Terry Ford''' was known as "the luckiest [[MechWarrior (pilot)|MechWarrior]] of the [[Inner Sphere]]" at the controls of his ''[[Charger]]'', "''[[Number Seven]]''", until his rather unfortunate demise in the wake of the [[Fourth Succession War]].

==History==
===Personal Life===
Ford was a ninth generation [[Illician Lancers|Illician Lancer]], whose partner was [[Alexandra Steward]], the daughter of a previous commander of the Lancers. He had three children with Steward, including their third child [[James Ford]], who was later a [[Lieutenant Colonel]] and deputy commander of the [[Ninth Illician Rangers]].<ref name=MS42></ref>

===Career===
Serving with the Ninth Illician Rangers as of [[3025]], Ford achieved a large degree of notoriety for having seen considerable amount of combat action without suffering as much as a scratch, despite frequently getting into disastrous situations with his [['Mech]] and suffering hits which would have destroyed [[Atlas (BattleMech)|''Atlas''es]] and ''[[Banshee (BattleMech)|Banshee]]''s.

Ford maintained a superstitious attitude, surrounded himself with lots of lucky charms and trinkets, and insisted that it would cost him his luck if he allowed somebody else to do maintenance on his [[BattleMech]], the lucky ''[[Number Seven]]''.<ref name=TRO3025-106>''Technical Readout: 3025'', p. 106, "CGR-1A1 Charger - Notable 'Mechs and MechWarriors - MechWarrior Terry Ford"</ref><ref name=TRO3039-156>''Technical Readout: 3039'', p. 152 "CGR-1A1 Charger - Notable MechWarrior - MechWarrior Terry Ford"</ref><ref name=SSaD-43>''Starterbook: Sword and Dragon'', p. 43, "Andrew Martin - MechWarrior Profile - 'Mech History"</ref>

Ford's luck finally ran out when the Illician Lancers were deployed in the [[Terran Corridor]] for a short time following the [[Fourth Succession War]], coming under attack from [[Sorenson's Sabres]] in a retaliatory strike. Leaping from an embankment intent on performing a "[[Highlander Burial]]" on a Sorenson's Sabres ''[[Longbow]]'', Ford was killed instantly when ''Number Seven''&#39;s [[gyro]] overreacted and caused the 'Mech to crash face first into ground with tremendous force.<ref name=TRO3039-156/><ref name=SSaD-43/>

Ford's ''Number Seven'' would be claimed by the Sabres, the near crippled 'Mech sent to [[Galedon V]] for an extensive refit, subsequently rebuilt from the ground up to the slower but more heavily armed CGR-1A9 variant (ID number: CGR1A0ALSX9). Assigned to ''[[Busosenshi]]'' [[Andrew Martin]], despite the work performed on Ford's former 'Mech, ''Number Seven'' still suffered from no end of minor glitches and malfunctions. Ultimately the 'Mech would disappear from the Sabres' roster sometime after [[3049]], one rumor insisting that the pilot-less ''Number Seven'' "accidentally" fell out of a [[DropShip]] during a combat drop drill.<ref name=TRO3039-156/><ref name=SSaD-43/><ref name=SSaD-35>''Starterbook: Sword and Dragon'', p. 35, "Sorenson's Sabres - 3049"</ref>

==BattleMech==
Ford was known to pilot the lucky ''[[Number Seven]]'', a modified CGR-1A1 ''[[Charger]]''. As of ca. 3025 its [[small laser]]s were replaced with [[medium laser]]s, but the 'Mech never operated at optimal efficiency largely due to Ford's extremely limited technical skills combined with his insistence to let none other work on it, and the ever increasing damage to its [[actuator]]s and other systems suffered during his lucky escapes.<ref name=TRO3025-106/><ref name=TRO3039-156/>

==Notes==
* An [[apocryphal]] version of the ''[[Charger#Apocryphal Variants|"Number Seven"]]'' appears in the video game [[MechWarrior Online]].

==References==
<references />
==Bibliography==
* ''[[Mercenaries Supplemental]]''
* ''[[Starterbook: Sword and Dragon]]''
* ''[[Technical Readout: 3025]]'' 
* ''[[Technical Readout: 3039]]''

[[Category:Mercenary Characters|Ford, Terry]]