Col. Gurran Mattin
The first commander of the 24,680th Dolat Infantry, Mattin was from one of the self-proclaimed noble houses of Dolat, shaken free by the Novia family's "Return to the System." The Mattins were one of the early targets of the Return and faded rapidly away. By the time Gurran went for his genetic assays, the family's supposed nobility was barely a ghost of a memory. Those assays placed him in the Military Service program at age 11. He scored well on numerous leadership aptitutdes and was assigned to the Officer Command Program at age 15. He did well enough to earn his way into the Higher Command Program at age 18. He continued and consistently outperformed his peers until he was assigned to the Regimental Command track at age 21.
This is where he would first meet the man who would become his executive officer, Kyl Torbith. Their initial meeting was inauspicious, where Torbith made a number of insulting comments about Mattin's parentage under the influence of off-world inebriants. On most Imperial worlds, this would have lead to a duel or assassination. On Dolat, it merely lead to a number of questionable events that resulted in Torbith coming close to washing out of the program. It seemed only luck that Torbith remained in the program at all.
Mattin was a personable man and met with every member of his command at least once before they lifted for orbit. Although he maintained the Role of the Leader at all times, his men found him willing to listen and take corrective action where necessary. He actually replaced four of his lieutenants for incompetence, a rare action for a commander still on Dolat.
His death was not as valourous as it could have been. When the Mazin Commandoes struck at the flank of his first, and only engagement, he initially rushed their armored troop carrier. One of the carriers had halted under fire from the autocannons and unloaded its soldiery already. He planned to shore up the flank and protect the mortars and autocannons that had so savaged the Mazin positions. A second raced behind, and he expected that they would also unload and join the attack. But they barrelled forward, even as the first squad came under fire from the reserve squad. Mattin came to a sudden realization. The objective was not the suport weapons. Colonel Gurran Mattin was the objective. As his command staff died around him, he tried to withdraw to the covering fire of the attached Leman Russ, dragging the shocked regimental banner bearer with him. The two men crested the hill together, the Mizan armored carrier in hot pursuit. Even as they stumbled to the crest the commandoes abandoned their carrier for a foot chase. They fired as they ran, weapons pattering against the surrounding terrain. The two men of Dolat crested the hill together. Even as his men turned towards him, two of the commandoes opened fire. Their tank-busting laser slicers reduced him to ash before the horrified eyes of his soldiers. The standard bearer was coated in the ashy remains of his commnder as the commandos withdrew to their carrier. They then fled the field, leaving the remains of their sister squad to the Imperium.
After his death, Kyl Torbith ascended to the Colonelcy.
