Bardon Schaeffer

"Bardon Schaeffer. Leader of the BTSU. Since we discovered he turned Lau and Coswald, we're suspected he's been recruiting other disavowed agents to his unit"

- Alani Kelso

Bardon Schaeffer was the Black Tusk Specialist Unit Leader during the Black Tusk Invasion of Washington, D.C. He was initially directly below the Black Tusk Commanding Officer for the majority of Tom Clancy's The Division 2 (whose identity has yet to be unmasked alongside the majority of Black Tusk's higher-ups), but after disastrous ordeals throughout the nation's capital alongside the events that led to his retreat at Liberty Island and the assimilation of the remaining Last Man Battalion forces, he now reports directly to Natalya Sokolova since Season 3's expansion pack's Manhunt in which at the time of the season release, vague details was known about Natalya at the time.

In the first year of the game, Bardon and the BTSU have monitored the status of Washington, D.C. and since has invaded the city swiftly after The Division pushed out the True Sons from the Capitol Building. Attempting to put the nation's capital in the BTSU's grip, the motives of Black Tusk (specifically the BTSU) were very vague until mission after mission they were considered hostiles as their motives unraveled, until the moment Alani Kelso marked Schaeffer as The Division's most wanted for accusing them as a rogue agency and for high crimes discovered through the sandbox ECHO scenes. After the events of Season 3, Concealed Agenda, he was neutralized by The Division at Coney Island and was unconsciously apprehended at Kelso's request. He is in critical condition according to ISAC.

Profile
The leader of the Black Tusk Specialist Unit (BTSU), Bardon Schaeffer has been one of The Division's most wanted. Schaeffer comes from a military family with a long and proud tradition of municipal and federal service. At age 19, he dropped out of college and enlisted in the United States Army, where he quickly showed proficiency and rose to the top of his platoon. He was assigned to a special forces unit where he was active in several "dark ops" before being recruited by Black Tusk. Black Tusk have obtained the sitting President of the United States, and have been working to destabilize The Division's efforts. Schaeffer believes he is a true patriot and is doing the right thing for the country.

He served multiple tours of Iraq and Afghanistan. Highly tactical with a proven ability to eliminate targets with extreme efficiency. Respected among his comrades and a natural choice for the role of Specialist Unit Leader.

History
He has been ordered by an employer of sorts - to get his own special Black Tusk unit to utilize a "golden opportunity". This turned out to be the Black Tusk Specialist Unit.

Bardon Schaeffer's history is mostly hidden; except for the fact that he and his BTSU has been lying in the shadows, monitoring the status of Washington, D.C. ever since the Green Poison hit, preparing for the right time to strike the city.

He managed to get two American Secret Service agents to assassinate President Mendez and guise the murder as a suicide, promising them safe passage out of the city. However, with the help of fellow BTSU member, Petrus Brenner, Schaeffer had the Secret Service agents killed.

With members from his BTSU, they also discussed the various factions in D.C. to BTSU member Elijah Sumner, the Hyenas seemed to be the best option to give the most trouble to both The Division and the other factions in D.C. Schaeffer liked Sumner's recommendation and passed it onto to his supervisor. He also attempted to hire Odessa Sawyer into the BTSU, but she turned down the offer.

Before The Division could make their assault on the Capitol Building, he made contact with President Ellis regarding the antivirals as the facility holding them can't be accessed without the briefcase held at the True Sons stronghold. Shortly after The Division secured the Capitol Building, he met with Ellis along with the briefcase in tow. Ellis passed Schaeffer the antivirals, in which he ordered Milla "Wyvern" Radek to store the antivirals at Tidal Basin, the Black Tusk's main base in D.C.

As The Division moved through the stronghold, Schaeffer attempted to get Wyvern to make a foot extraction with the antivirals, since a Division helicopter destroyed a turbine, leaving Black Tusk with little to no options. Wyvern ignored Black Tusk's tactical disadvantage by commencing a missile attack against The White House, in which Schaeffer was extremely against.

The Division gunned down Wyvern, stopped the missile launch and secured the antivirals shortly after. During Black Tusk's occupation of The Pentagon, he emphasized to Brenner about the importance of keeping the place in check and keep The Division from taking the Perfusion Bioreactor.

In spite of Brenner's attempts to stop The Division, they still managed to get the reactor. Additionally, his attempt to rebuild his Specialist Unit came to a grinding halt when Division agents stormed Camp White Oak and stopped Black Tusk from extracting any data and information from there. Out of frustration due to the insubordinate actions of Heads and Tails, the lead BTSU operatives tasked to lead the mission, he called his employer, telling him to stop sending clowns.

Sometime before the events of Warlords of New York, Schaeffer made contact with Faye Lau regarding the exchange of a rogue agent, Alicia Coswald, who aligned herself with Black Tusk. During the events of Warlords of New York, he led the assault on Liberty Island in hopes to eliminate Aaron Keener. However, due to intervention from Division agents causing the DDP-52 Razorback to be disabled and a XB-31 "Marauder" Quadcopter and a number of Warhounds hacked by Keener, Schaeffer ordered the retreat.

After Keener's death, his conversation with Lau was intercepted by Division agents regarding the activation of the Rogue Agent Network. While he wasn't keen on having to deal with more rogue agents, Lau reassured him that it will bring The Division to its knees, and they will be able to end them once and for all.

Sometime after Keener's death, Schaeffer tried to persuade Carter "Hornet" Leroux to join Black Tusk as part of a recruiting drive. Unfortunately, Hornet rebuked his offer, suggesting Schaeffer that Hornet only has one boss, and when he refers to Keener lives on in more ways he can think of, he made himself clear that Keener is his only boss.

Prior to the op, he's leading with rogue agents under his command, he shared his doubts with Natalya Sokolova (possibly one of Black Tusk's high-level executives). Though Natalya believed that it's a chance to keep her business partners happy and an opportunity for Faye Lau and her fellow rogue agents to prove themselves they are worthy. Despite his apprehension over Faye's capabilities, Natalya sternly ordered Bardon to handle responsibility and failures from Faye as he did bring her to Black Tusk and warned him that she does not tolerate failure to which Bardon understood.

During the op, Schaeffer got requests from his rogue agents for resources and supplies, which he satisfied their requests. Schaeffer contacted Faye Lau in regard to this, informing her that this operation is getting expensive, and questioned her how well do Lau knew these rogue agents and if they were to be trusted since Linette Edwards requested for a meeting with no apparent reason.

After many requests from his Rogue Agents, to his dissatisfaction, Schaeffer contacts Faye Lau to set up a meeting in Coney Island to discuss the current operation and how it's going. He would take his full reinforcement (4 Elite BTSU bodyguards and the Hunter) to the island, suggesting the "meeting" is only a setup to kill Faye. Unfortunately, The Division crashes the party by invading Coney Island and taking down the resident Rikers and confronting the Hunter.

After the Hunter was taken down, Schaeffer receives a call from Natalya Sokolova, who asks him if the Hunter is still in play, to which he replies "negative on the Hunter". Schaeffer then engaged in a firefight with The Division and got severely wounded, which led to Division agent Alani Kelso sending a team to retrieve and apprehend him.

Abilities
Schaeffer is a rogue agent armed with a Paratrooper SVD, Tactical AUG-A3P, Air-Burst Seeker-Mines, Explosive Sticky Bombs and EMP Jammer Grenades.

He is also guarded by 4 Elite BTSU operatives:


 * Trevor Odin (Thrower)
 * Faine Addams (Thrower)
 * Thomas Rains (Thrower)
 * Yvone Buckley (Thrower)

Quotes
"Boss, its Schaeffer. Total washout. You want me to rebuild this unit, stop sending me fucking clowns. Now if you'll excuse me, I am gonna go shoot myself in the fucking head."

- Schaeffer, after the second operation at Camp White Oak failed.

Trivia

 * At the very start of his boss fight, Schaeffer can be seen holding the Nemesis Exotic Marksman Rifle, however, it quickly transforms into a Paratrooper SVD after his initial dialogue and animation ends.

Appearances

 * Tom Clancy's The Division 2