Nala Wanjiku

Nala Wanjiku originally hails from the Kingdom of Umoja (a fact known only to the Devils themselves), and joined the Dust Devils after her escape from slavery in the Marian Hegemony alongside a young Tai Kekoa and then-CO Leilani Kekoa. 
==MRBC Dossier - 3065==
=== Biography ===
The MRBC has no official birth or origin records on file for Nala Wanjiku, other than that she was born on "a frontier world I barely remember" in the Anti-Spinward Deep Periphery. It was from this world that Wanjiku was taken as a child, along with a number of her people, by a group of pirates and slavers operating out of the Marian Hegemony known as the Bloody Laurel. The Laurel's commander, a brutal man who called himself Jacobus Klein Ballalabus, decided to keep most of the captives from that particular raid for his own estates on Baccalieu rather than selling them on. Wanjiku was forced to serve in the brute's villa for seven years, during which time she met, and befriended, a young Tai Kekoa.
Her captivity would come to an end when she was brought into a plot by Tai to escape alongside the Dust Devils' Commandant Leilani Kekoa. In exchange for Wanjiku's assistance, she extracted a promise from the mercenary commander that, when she rejoined her unit, they would return to Klein's estate and liberate those of her people who still survived on his estates, and assist them in returning home. After a few weeks of evading the Laurel's hired slave-catchers and the local authorities, the three fugitives were greeted by the welcome sight of the Devils' three Confederation-class DropShips descending in combat formation alongside a Union, a Fortress, and a Fury (the result of XO Darius Oliveira's calling in of old favors).
Commandant Kekoa was good to her word and then some; her forces and their allies from Gwydion Company, the Red Hare Irregulars, and the 1st Thraxa Volunteer Liberation Brigade left Klein and every member of his Bloody Laurel dead, the local Marian garrison destroyed, and a number of estates and the planetary capital of Shackleton's spaceport and slave market in ruins. Not just Wanjiku's people, but hundreds of freed slaves left Baccalieu alongside the triumphant mercenaries in captured Marian transports, to be escorted to Thraxa and the waiting arms of Canopian social services. 
While the Canopians saw to the repatriation of the bulk of the liberated, the Devils saw to the return of Wanjiku's people personally. Wanjiku herself elected to stay on, and alongside her friend Tai would enroll in the unit's BattleMech combat training program. Having shown a particular aptitude for close-quarters combat, the young MechWarrior was assigned a Hatchetman, which she would pilot skillfully for the next four years as a member of Onyx Lance until its destruction on Kufstein. Wanjiku would survive the Wolves' ambush thanks to the heroism of Kieran O'Connell, who though mortally wounded turned back during the retreat to recover her ejection pod before the Clan Elementals could reach it and carried her back to the Devils' dropship in the remaining hand of his badly-damaged Atlas II. 
In the aftermath of the disaster and the new Commandant's rebuild and reorganization of the Dust Devils, Wanjiku was reassigned to Opal Star and the command of a Banshee assault-class BattleMech.
=== Distinguishing Features ===
Wanjiku is, by any standard, a striking young woman. Standing nearly two meters tall with a runner's build, ebony skin, and hair often styled into elaborate multi-colored braids, it would be an odd room indeed that the MechWarrior could pass through unnoticed.
=== Career Highlights ===
==== Operation BIRD DOG - 3061 ====
Hanover: During the raid on the Jaguar's French Lick prison camp early in her career, Wanjiku managed two solo kills against Clan garrison BattleMechs a full weight class higher than her Hatchetman (a Glass Spider and a Warhammer IIC, the former taken mostly intact as she managed to duck in under its guard and cleave the cockpit down the center) as well as a number of assists. When word reached the Devils that the camp guards had begun executing prisoners, it was Wanjiku who jumped the walls and scattered the firing squads, crushing the camp commander underfoot and putting a stop to the massacre.
==== Operation WOODSMAN - 3064 ====
Engadin: The Devils' raid on a major materiel depot provided the newly-arrived garrison forces of Clan Hell's Horses with a rude awakening to the realities of Spheroid warfare. Used to the more structured rules of zellbrigen, the Horse warriors were not truly prepared for the "dishonorable" tactics of massed fire or the eagerness with which the Devils engaged in hand-to-hand combat, a situation that allowed Wanjiku to move through their combined-arms garrison like a lethal whirlwind, accounting for the destruction of three Clan Mechs and a number of combat vehicles, including a well-placed kick that sent a hover APC colliding with and knocking over an enemy Marauder IIC.
Kufstein: Though the Devils' first encounter with an elite frontline Clan unit ended in disaster for the mercenaries, the Wolves did not leave the field unscathed. Wanjiku lost her Hatchetman in the engagement, but took a Ryoken with her, one of the few solo kills managed in the retreat.
=== Decorations ===
Nala Wanjiku has received the following decorations from their unit and/or clients:
* The Balm of Edo
* The Broken Chain
* Kaumaha o ka ʻOhana
=== BattleMech ===
The Devils salvaged the old Banshee that Wanjiku would dub Malkia wa Masokwe (Old Swahili for "Queen of Apes") while putting down Kokoryu-kai insurgents on behalf of the Draconis Combine in the aftermath of the Combine-Dominion War. Recovered mostly intact after Malohi Tupou placed a round from his Highlander's Gauss rifle through its pilot, the assault 'Mech was returned to working condition by the Devils' technicians, most likely with the intent to sell it on. However, with the loss of Wanjiku's Hatchetman on Kufstein, the Banshee was instead upgraded and assigned to the MechWarrior as a suitable fit for her combat style.
Malkia wa Mosokwe's refit aligns well with the Devils' preferred tactic of fielding old Inner Sphere machines with extensive ClanTech upgrades to punish unsuspecting foes. The Banshee's original engine has been replaced with a 380 XL taken from the wreckage of a Clan Ghost Bear Gladiator, freeing up significant weight while sacrificing none of the assault 'Mech's trademark maneuverability, further increased by upgraded myomers and a trio of jump jets. The newly-available tonnage was put to good use to give Malkia wa Mosokwe a significant increase in firepower over a stock 3M Banshee. The original PPCs and medium lasers have been replaced with ClanTech extended-range versions, while the head-mounted small laser has been replaced with a more fearsome ClanTech flamethrower. Twenty double-strength Clan heat sinks and a pair of Tier 2 thermal exchangers allow for a steady rate of fire even with this high-temperature arsenal, providing a grim surprise for opponents expecting to exploit a typical 3M's notorious heat management issues.
Powerful as its ranged capabilities may be, Malkia wa Mosokwe truly excels when it can get within arms' reach of a foe and live up to its name. An advanced ECM suite and a full three additional tons of armor over a stock 3M allow the 'Mech the survivability to close with the enemy, where its reinforced, spiked, and upgraded-myomer-powered battlefists can make short, brutal work of even other assault-class machines.
Malkia wa Masokwe is painted primarily in the Devils' typical camel, with bands and arcs of geometric patterns in granite and coral around the limbs and torso and monstrous, fanged faces on the pauldrons and lower legs in the same colors. Wanjiku's personal heraldry, a pair of crossed scythes set behind a red and white elongo shield, trimmed in green and adorned with an octagonal green gem and broken steel chain set over a 19-pointed black sunburst, is painted on the Banshee's center torso.
Category:Characters
Category:Dust Devils Personnel
Category:Dust Devils AU