*******INTEL_REPORT_0001_APRIL21_3072******
Saiph once formed the junior partner in its titular Chaos March protostate, but resentment against New Canton's interference (as well as a growing Pro-Liao insurgency) saw it secede and join the growing Blakist Protectorate in 3067.
That year saw the rise of the Saiph Citizens Alliance - formerly an insurgency group, the SCA used growing discontent with New Canton to turn legitimate and pick in several parliamentary seats. A series of scandals rocked the tottering Saiphense government and saw them defeated in a landslide.
The newly elected SCA took no time inviting the Blakists in to "assist them in making the planet safer". Within months, the Word had taken over planetary defence, communications and foreign policy.
The planet's defences are maintained jointly by the Saiph Protectorate Militia and the Canned Heat indigenous Mercenary command.
Formed amid the fires of the Chaos March, the Heat has benefitted greatly from, Blakist training, supply and leadership.
A mech battalion, backed by a conventional battalion, the Heat is key to the planet's defence, including a garrison at the sprawling Sitwell Corporation's industrialmech plant and several outlying forward operating bases.
The Protectorate Militia division has concentrated mainly on anti-insurgency and security operations since it was formed and relies heavily on infantry and vehicles, with only two Demi companies worth of Battlemechs.
Interestingly, the Militia has recently acquired a battalion of security troops on exchange from the Liberty Protectorate Militia. Specialists in intelligence gathering, interrogation and counter insurgency, this unit has had a string of successes against rebel forces and seems to excel at obtaining intelligence from captured insurgents via creative interrogation techniques.
Opposition: Saiph's government is engaged in operations against two rebel groups - one backed by us and the other by House Liao.
The group we support is nominally the remains of the former government in exile and consists of elements of the former militia, a handful of Canned Heat deserters and volunteers.
The insurgency consists of little more than three Battlemechs, about a company of irregular infantry and some older tanks ill suited for these kinds of operations.
The Capellans backed unit is rumoured to number several companies worth of infantry and a handful of older battle armour. They apparently lack mech support but seem to posses several artillery pieces they've used to shell the capital and Blakist positions.
So far, we have had little success with reaching out to the Capellans in an effort to cooperate.
Objective: Mercenary forces will infiltrate Saiph (suggested landing sites are attached, including the Greater Mao Basin region) and carry out attacks against on world forces, primarily harassing and rendering the Canned Heat Mercenary unit combat ineffective.
Our hope is that by taking the Heat out of the fight or at least reducing its overall effectiveness, Saiph's defences will be degraded, pacing the way for further operations.
********ENDS**************
We came down on Saiph and managed to hide the ships in this big, broad basin filled with dense jungle.
It appears orbital watch is not the Protectorate Militia's primary concern and we easily managed to avoid detection.
While the Colonel was keen to link up with any on world resistance, we quickly got word they had been delayed and were out of position.
Rather than sit around - he decided to go hunting.
There was a Canned Heat manned fire base on the lip of the basin so we started making all kinds of noise - sent our fighters up, easily got noticed marching mechs along ridge lines, etc.
Pretty soon, the defenders were out in force looking for us - that's when we struck.
We left Fire Lance with the droppers and the Colonel reorganised us - I'd take all the non-jumpers and advance straight down the highway towards the base. He and the remaining jumping mechs went bush.
I can't imagine the Canned Heat jocks' faces when they saw three Awesomes and a Bandersnatch charging down the road towards them! Well they started to sight their arty on us, drag around field guns and they were even scrambling a lance of tanks when from the jungle one of their patrols staggered right into us - this poor scout lance suddenly found itself right in our guns, while their own comrades started dropping shells on them!
And that's when Felix and his jumpers came sailing over the compound's walls.
It was pretty one sided - half the scout lance was down in minutes, but one damn Nightsky turned out to have the devil's own luck. It was leaping among us, hacking with its odd shaped axe. Angela Edith went toe to toe - and the damn medium damn near ripped her apart.
Meanwhile, the colonel's lance had destroyed half the base, a whole lance of heavy armour and he'd downed a Banshee - the 95 tonner came boiling out of the mechbays and ran straight into his MAD-II.
I offered the Nightsky jock the chance to power down - we'd holed it a dozen times and it was now facing all four of us.
She surrendered - and then amazingly made us an offer to change sides.
Things kept getting better as we secured the base - the Banshee was driven by the Heat's XO for mech operations, a Captain Richard McCormick. We grabbed the two prisoners, threw the two captured mechs on a prime mover (the Banshee's missing a leg and we weren't letting the turncoat pilot her machine just yet) and rigged the compound to blow.
The Heat must have lost close to a company of armour and artillery, two mechs and another two totally destroyed. And worst of all - some valuable personnel.
I think the Word is going to know we were here!
- Captain Joe Paige