Rank: Sergeant (Fire Lance)
Age: 41 (born 3017)
BattleMech: Cataphract CTF-3L
Appearance: Approximately 5’8", Laura’s long, stringy hair is partially brown, and contains a significant amount of dark grey. She carries many scars from a lifetime of violence, but they are all covered by horrific burn scars from a specific battle. They wear their pilot outfit at all times, like they might need to jump in the cockpit at any moment.
Bio: Laura Zheng was born into desperate poverty on the Capellan world of Muridox, which was in the midst of a horrific civil war. Laura was recruited as a child soldier, participating in brutal campaigns of violence as a mere eight-year-old. As luck would have it, her side won the war, gaining recognition by the Capellan state as the world’s legitimate authority, and its fighters were rehabilitated back into society. Unable to fit in anywhere, she lied about her age and enrolled in the infantry program at the nearest Regional Training Center. Laura distinguished themself in extreme aggression and technical proficiency, but struggled with discipline and squad cohesion. Bafflingly, the training director papered over their flaws and recommended her to the BattleMech program, probably just to get her out of his hair.
Passing her ‘Mech qualifications by the skin of her teeth, Laura Zheng was assigned to a Cicada in the Second Confederation Reserve Cavalry, having successfully concealed her true age. Shortly after her arrival, the unit was shifted to Sigma Mare in expectation of an Andurien invasion. When the arrival of the Fourth Defenders of Andurien shattered the Second Cavalry, Laura fought hard but was brought down in the initial ambush, dragging herself from the Cicada’s wreckage in time to be carried to a retreating dropship.
Too fierce to be wasted, Laura found herself filling a Jagermech in Ishara’s Grenadiers during the later part of the Andurien campaign. However, her reckless piloting saw her ‘Mech destroyed by an ammo explosion during the otherwise easy victory on Jacomarie in 3033. Laura was assigned to a busted up Rifleman and kept off the line for the rest of the war, a pariah amongst their peers.
When Silvia Song joined the Grenadiers the following year, she immediately identified Laura as a fellow outsider and a valuable asset. She treated Laura with respect and friendship, rather than the cold distance they were used to. As a result, Laura became fanatically devoted to Silva, becoming known in the unit as “Song’s attack dog.” They were instrumental in helping to split off and form Song’s Sabres and served as Silvia’s sergeant. (Silvia exclusively calls them “Sergeant” or “Sergeant Zheng,” the only time she calls them “Laura” is when she is setting them loose on someone.)
In 3050, the lance-sized Sabres had been hired to settle a dispute between some feuding nobles on a Periphery world, only to find that the opposing noble had found an SLDF cache of eight Puma assault tanks. The other two mechwarriors were killed, and Laura fought until her Rifleman had melted into slag to make sure Silvia’s Longbow could limp to safety. They were pulled from the wreckage, but had suffered severe burns on most of their body.
The pair made their way to Outreach, where they signed on to the Roving Golems and procured a junkyard Commando for Laura. Naturally, the ‘Mech wouldn’t survive the Golems’ action in Operation GUERRERO, but after the fighting, Laura stole salvaged a brand-new Cataphract CTF-3L from the allied Capellan forces, which she was able to keep after fighting off the onsite CCAF quartermaster (and after the officers agreed to accept a lower rate for the mission). Captain Zwiebel has expressed concern that Laura isn’t temperamentally suited to being held back in the fire lance, but Lieutenant Song is confident she can keep them in line.
While she isn’t the closest of pals with most members, the Golems don’t treat Laura as an outcast, and she is quite comfortable. However, she is extremely dubious of her precious Silvia getting involved with young Madeline, and the two of them have not quite figured out how to get along.