“Veruca” Louise Salt was always the “little” sister, living in the shadow of her infamous musician/mercenary sister. Salt worked her way through the ranks like all members of the family, and proved her right to the position with skill and determination. About a year prior to the Dunkelheim Incident, she became the “heir-apparent”, and began piloting the unit’s trademark ASN-21 Assassin, acting as her sister’s XO.

During their hard luck contract on System – Dunkelheim, “Veruca’s Visigoths” were able to maintain their status through salvage, even after meeting White Death’s personal Mech Company during a raid on the edge of Goldberg, capital of Dunkelheim. At the height of this raid, Louise had taken severe damage to the unit Assassin, and it was down for repairs due to a lack of parts. As a result she and a fellow pilot (recently dispossessed), most of the unit’s dependents and their collected salvage survived the death of their unit during the raid on White Death’s JumpShip fleet near the end of the contract on Dunkelheim. Most of their remaining unit were lost when the Merchant-Class JumpShip they were assaulting turned-out to be a disguised Tracker-Class Warship, The Sable Countess. The WarShip jumped away from the battle, wiping Veruca’s Visigoths from existence.

Captain Salt took her sister’s name in memory of her lost sister, and found herself in the unenviable position of having defaulted the contract they were under, and with little resources remaining to rebuild her family’s legacy. She accepted the lead position of a lance of Mechs in the unit’s “reserve” force, but had hopes to lead the unit to greater things. Command of the entire company of reserve Mechs became more than a dream, when the unit was rebuilt to become a combined-arms battalion, in mid-3020.

Taking command of the newly independent battalion of The Dead Man’s Hand, was more than a simple accomplishment for her; it was justification that she was not simply living in the shadow of her family name, or her sister. She worked hard to make the unit click together as a whole, a capable combined-arms force, and trained hard every day.

During their turn as a garrison force at Garrison, Veruca was promoted (by senior officer council vote) to full Major in early 3022, following the unit’s observation that she was the most senior member of the Iron Dingoes on-planet during the Line Unit’s absence. This was confirmed by Paladin following his return to their landholds.

Returning to Garrison in late-3023, after their nearly two-year stint in Contract – Operation : “Blinding Light”, the unit was in need of the promised two-years of garrison duty at home. Many of her skilled officers were transferred across to * The Blood Raiders, while she was promised the ability to pick her own recruits over the next couple years to rebuild. They were also given a couple better Mechs (their Archer and Banshee replaced with a Longbow and an Atlas), and re-equipped their infantry with the newest infantry field kits and armaments. The opportunity to rebuild and rest was welcome.

The unit engaged in fairly benign contracts for a few years, until it was involved in the War of 3039 as a reserve force backing the 5th Syrtis Fusiliers on Markab. Avoiding the counter-attacks facing many other mercenary commands during the conflict, they returned to their cantonments to discover the losses taken by * “The Dire Dingoes” on Elidere IV, and she took her place on the unit’s new Command Council to discuss their future. Talks continued until 3042, when the unit as a whole faced a reorganization of its general deployment schedules and plans for future expansion.

In early-3043, the combined Command Council voted to promote all three of the primary mercenary battalions to full Lieutenant Colonel status, and make them (or their proxies) part of the revised leadership of the united Command Council moving forward.