The Federated Sun's Reborn

[Billy Boy Mark II]

Have to say that it's REALLY getting increasingly unbelivable for me that the Kuritans haven't broke out the canned sunshine - and sent deep raiders to start getting into the Crucis March and simply obliterating Davion jumpships, recharge stations and soft civilian targets in retaliation about now.

Doing things like the AFFS is doing are taboo for an incredibly good reason; everyone remembers EXACTLY what happened in the first two Succession Wars and Victor is now directly and brutally attacking the very viability of the Combine as a state. The Combine has never EVER been shy about raising the stakes or about attacking civilian targets. And their complete passive 'sitting around and taking it' is really getting a bit grating. Victor here has actually thrown the first punch with going after Kuritas jumpships and recharge stations, which have always been emphatically off limits in the Inner Sphere in recent times.

I would have expected by now deep raiders forcing Victor to recall a lot of his warships to get reaction forces into play. And if Victor doesn't get the message, an object lesson being made of a planet or two using the Curse of Galedon. Which is something that can be delivered entirely covertly by the ISF if needed.

I have a line in the sand for Theodore (not so much Hohiro in fairness) that the canned sunshine gets unboxed when the first AFFS trooper sets foot on Galedon, Benjamin, Pesht, Luthien, New Samarkand or any other similar world - Dieron would have been on the list but frankly it's so near the frontier it was considered unviable to have it as part of that dividing line.

[Billy Boy Mark II]

3070 - July - Opeartions Achilles, Ajax and Agamemnon VI

With Operation Heart Attack sucking up most of the resources of the AFFS the still active Operations Achilles, Ajax and Agamemnon were by necessity scaled back. Active combat operations were continued, but only a handful of new ones were launched and these were primarily with the intent of securing a more suitable border in the event of a peace settlement or for follow on attacks if Operation Heart Attack failed in it's goal of forcing House Kurita to the peace table.



Dieron



The slow and gradual grinding attacks of the AFFS upon the besieged DCMS troops contained within Fortress Dieron continued throughout July. If anything despite the shift in priority to Operation Heart Attack the pace of operations upon Dieron was moved up. The Davion Assault Guards, assisted by the Vegan Ranger's Alpha, Beta and Gamma Regiments began to launch larger scale attacks on multiple areas of the fortress's perimeter. While the defences continued to hold, casualties on both sides mounted quickly. The difference was that from the AFFS's perspective they could afford these increased losses while the DCMS troops obviously couldn't.



Under the cover of these large scale attacks a number of infiltration attempts are made to open up a route to the heart of the fortress. While one of them is partially successful and results in battle armoured troopers managing to seize one of the major defensive strong points on the north side of the mountain the DCMS is able to thwart any knockout blow from said infiltration's and soon wises up to these efforts.



In total the AFFS and their mercenary allies end up taking losses of nearly seven companies of battlemechs and similar levels of conventional forces over the course of the month (although at least some of these losses will be made good from supplies as soon as the mechwarrior or armour crews have recovered from any injuries). In return they have managed to knockout around five companies of DCMS troops - who largely will not be returning to the lines in a few weeks or months.



Across the rest of the planet support for integration within the Federated Suns continues to rise, particularly when at the end of the month Baron Tancred Sandoval and his wife Duchess Yvonne Davion-Sandoval arrive on the planet with a heavy escort drawn largely from the 2nd Robinson Rangers RCT. They are soon being given a tour of the planet, meeting the proto-local government and the Baron at least tours the front lines of the troops facing Fortress Dieron (although at a safe distance and with a heavy escort).



Lyons



The 13th Sun Zhang Cadre finally admits to themselves that they cannot attempt to face off against the 4th Davion Guards RCT in active warfare and proceeds to scatter into the wilderness of the world. Unfortunately for them the local population is largely hostile and aids the 4th Guards in hunting down many of the cadets and officers of the Cadre over the coming month. Still at least two full companies of battlemech's manage to disperse into lance sized raiding bands across the world by the end of July.



With the dispersal of the 13th Cadre the few conventional units loyal to the DCMS on the planet facing large scale protests soon either attempt to disperse to join the cadets of the 13th or surrender to the now overwhelming superiority of the 4th Davion Guards. The planet see's a massive boost in morale when the Lyon FTM arrives on planet to take up garrison posting on the 30th. With the arrival of the LAAF on planet the AFFS troops prepare to leave the remaining mopping up to the Lyon FTM.



Ko



With the pacification of Dyev going so smoothly the AFFS authorises the 8th Striker regiment of the Fighting Urukhai to move on Ko which intelligence suggests is held by only a single conventional armour regiment and three infantry regiments and is also home to a large pro-Lyran resistance movement. These intelligence reports prove to be correct and at the arrival of the elite mercenary formation in the system the garrison commander promptly packs up his troops as best he can and abandons the system, heading for Kessel. The 8th Striker arrive on the planet and are welcomed by the already forming Lyran government - although there is some awkwardness when they welcome the 8th in the name of the "Archon-Prince Victor Steiner-Davion".



Nashira



With the arrival of an over strength infantry brigade (six regiments strong, although four of them are newly raised units, which brings the AFFS forces to eleven infantry regiments) and a reinforced battalion of attack VTOL's the writing is on the wall for the insurgents on Nashira. Although they wish to fight on with the example of their fathers and uncles in the War of '39 to motivate them the fact that the AFFS is winning the war is clear to even the most fanatically pro-Kurita rifleman. As such the Tai-sa in charge of the militia defenders requests terms from Colonel Stirling. With the permission of the High Command Colonel Stirling offers generous terms, the militia are allowed to stand down and return to private life if they so wish (although handing in their weapons) or if they refuse to submit to House Davion they will be held at a secure location until a prisoner transfer can return them to the Combine. With these terms agreed the locals surrender to the Davion mercenaries and conventional forces.



Pike IV



General Marie Stevens's plan to slowly integrate the two opposing factions of the world into the Federated Suns is clearly paying dividends and by the end of the month while officially still an active front the world is securely in the hands of the Federated Suns. However the High Command are more than aware that this is largely the work of the veteran General and as such quietly inform her that her command will be remaining as the permanent garrison of the planet for the foreseeable future. This news is accompanied by her promotion to Marshal.



Umjiri



With the knowledge that the DCMS formations are using transport heavy VTOL's to move their formations around the AFFS change their tactics. Roving patrols of aerospace fighters are soon sweeping the skies to ensure that the enemies ability to move around at will is drastically curtailed.



The first casualty of this lack of mobility is the 6th Arkab Legion's 2nd battalion which when out manoeuvred on the 12th of July and now without it's ability to magically disappear and reappear is crushed by the Davion Old Guards and the Cunningham Commando's. A similar fate befalls the 6th Ghost's 3rd battalion's 2nd company when it is pounced upon in mid air during an "escape" from an ambush by the 1st Davion Guards on the 14th.



With the net closing around them the two DCMS forces on the planet's officers secretly met and agreed to a plan to evacuate their forces from the planet. Knowing that the AFFS has a full squadron of Avalon class cruisers in orbit the two units agree to a staged break out attempt. On the 27th a large number of dropships blast off from the planet, mostly civilian dropships while following in their wake is a number of military dropships assigned to the two DCMS units. Unsurprisingly the four Avalon cruisers and their escorting dropships concentrate on shooting down or crippling the military flotilla, ignoring the civilian dropships. However almost all of the various military personnel remaining to the 6th Arkab Legion and 6th Ghost are in fact stowed away in the cargo holds of the civilian dropships - along with what military equipment could be hurriedly loaded. While they have had to sacrifice much of their actual equipment the two regiments mechwarriors, armour crews and infantry are able to escape.



With the withdrawal of the regular DCMS forces the few remaining conventional units and militia surrender to the AFFS on the 31st.



Hagiwawa



July opens with the AFFS formations launching a full scale offensive against the DCMS lines. The 3rd Crucis Lancers RCT and the 1st New Ivaarsen Chasseurs launch a coordinated attack upon the 27th Benjamin Regulars, while the 1894th Light Horse attack the massively under strength 24th Benjamin Regular and the 10th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT attacks the similarly under strength 28th.



For three days the green 27th actually manages to hold the line (backed up by three conventional brigades who are fed into the meat grinder) against the AFFS units battering it, taking heavy casaulties but never quite breaking. Later intelligence reports will suggest that the reason for this was simply that the green as grass troops of the 27th simply didn't realise just how bad their situation was. Only when the 24th and 28th Benjamin Regulars on their flanks are crushed (the 24th breaking and falling back in a rout while the 28th is effectively wiped out as a combat command) does the 27th Regulars finally crack. As the survivors of the 24th and 27th attempt to fall back with the remnants of the conventional brigades who had been aiding in holding the Davion's back the light battlemechs of the Light Cavalry and Light Horse regiments sweep down on them and harry them all the way back to



The single remaining conventional brigade of troops that remain uncommitted to the fight are infected by the panic of the few survivors of the 24th and 27th Benjamin Regulars who manage to reach their lines around the capital city. When the light battlemechs and fast tanks of the 10th Deneb Light Cavalry arrive at the city they are able to rush the defenders and break their lines despite not being equipped for this sort of fight. With the Deneb Light Cavalry pouring into the city and the other Davion units not far behind the organised defence of the city collapses.



While holdouts will continue to fight until the end of the month, the matter s now beyond question and when what is left of the 27th Benjamin Regulars surrenders on the 30th of July the world is declared secure for the FedSun's. Although mopping up operations are expected to last for at least another 2-3 weeks.



Iruzun



The 2nd Dragonlords RCT and 4th Crucis Lancers RCT arrive in orbit and proceed to land on Iruzun on the 3rd of July on the North Umbrian continent. With the majority of the defenders deployed to protect the South Umrbian continent and the capital of New Gotham City the AFFS begin to secure their lodgement on the planet.


This plant however goes awry when the 1st Proserpina Hussars combat hops using Tonbo super heavy transports. Furious and filled with hate towards the AFFS for the loss of their homeworld and the destruction of the 10th Hussars, they hit a dispersed combat command of the 2nd Dragonlords and proceed to inflict horrendous casualties on the unit. As further 2nd Dragonlord formations rush to the rescue of their comrades the 1st Proserpina Hussars defeat them in detail, destroying over half of the RCT's remaining strength for only light losses until the massed formation of the 4th Crucis Lancers bearing down on them forces them to withdraw back across to South Umbria. The 1st Hussars even mange to drag back a decent amount of salvage which they hand over to the 16th Galedon Regulars which allows them to form an 2nd company to their 3rd battalion with local volunteers.



With the heavy losses inflicted in this attack upon the 2nd Dragonlords reducing them to minimal combat effectiveness, Major General Andrew Giggins is forced to accept that his command of the 4th Crucis alone can't hope to secure the world. He sends word of the reverse to Robinson and New Avalon while concentrating on building large scale air bases for the various aerospace wings attached to the Davion forces. Soon a heavy combat air patrol is deployed to prevent a similar surprise attack occurring again.



On the 24th of July the 1st and 42nd Avalon Hussars RCT arrive in system from Donenac and begin a burn in to join the dug in 4th Crucis Lancers and surviving 2nd Dragonlords troops. They are joined on the 27th by the 20th Avalon Hussars RCT from Reisling's Planet.



Kaznejoy



With total air superiority over all but the capital of Gondovia and complete control of the orbitals the AFFS has effectively blinded to anything over the horizon from the capital city and it's bases. When the AFFS launch a full scale air assault on the morning of the 12th of July the local fighters swarm up to reinforce their air patrol while the various defensive units are ordered to stand ready in case the enemy fighters break through.



Which leaves them totally unprepared for the arrival of the mercenary regiment Hansen's Roughriders from their long detour. Hitting a lightly defended part of the perimeter (on the opposite side of the defences from the known AFFS positions around Fort Darwin) the Roughriders break through the line with almost no difficulty before running amok within the DCMS lines. By the time they withdraw in the early hours of the morning of the 13th they have effectively destroyed the 43rd Galedon Regulars (with the survivors folded into the 45th Galedon Regulars) and done a huge amount of damage to the supply depots of the defending troops. While the official DCMS after battle reports suggest that nearly half the Roughriders were destroyed during the battle the elite unit suffered slightly less than two companies of casualties in the attack.



Morale within the DCMS units on Kaznejoy takes a major hit and the destruction of much of their supplies soon begins to effect their ability to even contest the air space above Gondovia under constant attacks. Despite the losses caused, the commanding officer feels he has no other option but to resume patrols of the deserts around Gondovia and throw out outposts beyond his air cover. These units immedietly begin to take heavy casualties from Davion aerospace fighter attacks and by the 20th the 45th Galedon Regulars conventional troops are point blank refusing to take part in these "death patrols" - demanding that 11th Ghost perform them. To say this has a toxic effect on inter-unit relations is an understatement.



The commanding officer of the garrison is therefore almost delighted to hear reports that the AFFS formations from Fort Darwin are approaching Gondovia. At least the arrival of a besieging force will hopefully reunify his command. Sallying  a handful of spoiling attacks at the encroaching enemy lines the garrison prepares to resist the attack. By the 29th of July the city is fully besieged by the AFFS formations on the planet...





Matsuida



The defensive lines in the capital of Mystique city are beginning to be reminiscent of a child's drawing. However the greater strength of the AFFS formations on the planet allow them to concentrate forces as required. With this ability the AFFS concentrate the 1st Crucis Lancers RCT and 1st FedSun's Dragoons battlemech formation (their conventional forces remaining in the lines) and strike at the areas held by the 3rd Ghost on the 8th. The initial strike severs the narrow connection along the dockyards between the 3rd Ghost and the rest of the DCMS troops. Cut off and surrounded the 3rd Ghost is slowly reduced using overwhelming firepower that almost levels the dockyards and fish canning industrial plants near them. Despite effectively being abandoned by the Ryuken regiments on the planet the 3rd Ghost fights in the best traditions of the DCMS and sell their lives dearly block by block, asking for no quarter and giving none. They manage to hold out until the 10th when their final battlemech falls in the ruins of a fish processing factory. They manage to inflict their own numbers of losses onto the two Davion units before they are destroyed.



However with the destruction of the 3rd the AFFS can now concentrate on the remaining garrison of the Ryuken-yon and Ryuken-go. These two experienced formations put up a strong fight but find their line slowly pushed back and casualties mounting. The civilian population is slowly turning against them as well - given that they blame the DCMS formations for retreating into the city and bringing about this destructive urban warfare. By the end of the month the two formations are shattered but still holding out in the hills overlooking the harbour. Between them they can muster roughly a battalion of damaged battlemechs and maybe twice that in conventional forces. They have however bled the AFFS formations attacking them white.



Beta Mensae V



The 8th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT arrived in the system and with their double strength fighter wings swept forward. The system which had had almost no contact with the rest of the Draconis Combine since it's HPG went dead and the jumpships stopped coming had a small militia force which stood up to resist the AFFS troops. Woefully outnumbered, outgunned and outmanoeuvred the militia force was only able to resist for roughly a week before being crushed. The 8th Deneb Light Cavalry suffered few losses beyond some damaged tanks and battlemechs.

[Billy Boy Mark II]

3070 - July - Operation Nightfire

The WOB warships at Hesperus consist of the WoBS Invincible, the Tharkad class battlecruiser that the Word of Blake had mysteriously came into possession off and refurbished and the WoBS Nantes and WoBS Limoges, both Suffren class destroyers and 3 Zechetinu II corvettes - the WoBS Hare, WoBS Foxhound and WoBS Bunyoro. The WoBS Hare and WoBS Foxhound were deployed at the Zenith and Nadir jump points respectively, with the other ships orbiting the world of Hesperus itself. Their primary role was to safeguard the elite Shadow Divisions deployed upon the planet below and they were considered more than sufficient to defeat any Lyran Alliance effort to break the blockade of the planet.

What they were not sufficient to deal with however was the ships of Operation Nightfire. The AFFS High Command had been paying careful attention to the LAAF's intelligence briefings that were being forwarded to them about the enemy deployments at Hesperus and they knew that the bulk of the warships were in orbit with a single corvette deployed at each jump point as a trip wire. As such Fleet Admiral Buchwald had made every effort to ensure that the Federated Sun's Navy would sweep the skies clear of the WOB ships.

On the 18th of July Task Force Nightfire jumped into the Hesperus system in three flotillas. At the Nadir jump point the 1st Division of the 3rd Corvette Flotilla jumped into the system while at the Zenith jump point the 2nd Division of the 3rd Flotilla jumped in. Consisting of older Fox I vessels they were still considered more than adequate to take care of a single Zechetinu II corvette - particularly as they were all carrying a Vengeance class dropship along with two Achilles class assault dropships and two Overlord-A3 pocket warships attached to their hulls. Just to make sure each ship was carrying nuclear tipped warheads in their missile tubes right from the start. The Word of Blake had proven they were happy to use nuclear ordinance before and as such the FedSun's were more than happy to return the favour.

As soon as the two Divisions of Fox corvettes jumped into the system and had stabilised they were firing missiles at the enemy corvettes and launching their dropships and fighters just as fast as they possibly good. At the Zenith jump point the WoBS Hare was "lucky" enough to only have a single Fox materialse within range and as such managed to launch her own ready fighters (two) and dropship before the first missile was slamming into her. Her own initial volleys were not nuclear tipped and this gave the FSS Sakhara a critical edge in the initial engagement. By the time the WoBS crew were rushing nuclear ordinance to the launchers their ship was already a streaming wreck and not only had the FSS Sakhara's dropships and fighters joined the battle but the FSS Filtvelt had got into range. At the Nadir jump point the WoBS Foxhound was even less lucky in that the FSS Benet III and FSS Goshen appeared in position to bracket her. Even before she could launch her dropship the missiles were streaming in. Neither Zechetinu II corvette survived the initial engagements and only the FSS Sakhara took any damage at all.

The third and final group of Davion warships to jump into the system was also the largest, not only in numbers but in ship classes, size and firepower. Three New Sytris II carriers led the way, with ten Davion III destroyers, four Congress-D II frigates and twelve Fox II corvettes escorting them jumped into the system at a pirate point near Hesperus itself. Every single ship capable of carrying dropships was carrying a mix of Vengeance class fighter carriers and various assault and pocket warship dropships. While the air wings launched by the carriers were the single largest number of aerospace fighters each destroyer, frigate and even corvette when you included their dropships added at least a full aerospace regiment of 60 fighters to the task force.

A few seconds appraisal of the situation made the WOB Naval Precentor realise that any attempt to flee would be doomed. The enemy would simply swarm his ships under with repeated fighter strikes long before could withdraw to any safe pirate point and the regular jump points as well as being even further out were also now in the hands of the Federated Suns Navy! Hurriedly organising his four warships and the large flotilla of dropships he broke orbit and began a full burn towards the ships of Operation Nightfire.

The probably suicidal charge of the WOB ships had been anticipated and the Davion capital ships immedietly turned around and began to "flee" to keep the range open. Although the Davion III destroyers and Fox II corvettes deployed to hold their ground at the jump point along with the huge flotilla of assault dropships and pocket warships. Similar to the battle at Benjamin the Davion fighter wings broke into four separate groups. A ground consisting of 6 full aerospace regiments remained with the "fleeing" carriers and frigates, while another 5 regiments stayed with the blocking destroyers and corvettes. The other 10 regiments broken into two waves of 300 fighters and headed for the enemy in a staggered formation. However the second wave is also accompanied by a large formation of 24 Overlord-A3 pocket warships.

Just as at Benjamin (and as was obviously now Federated Suns Navy doctrine) the first wave of fighters concentrated largely on clearing the way for the next wave, concentrating on destroying enemy fighters and dropships and damaging any screening light warships. The WOB dropships and fighters take the brunt of this wave in a swirling melee and are soon either destroyed or so crippled as to be almost worthless in a fleet engagement. Which leaves the way free for the second wave and it's accompanying capital missile armed pocket warships. Unlike at the jump points however this time both sides have nuclear tipped missiles waiting for the range to close. The initial exchange somewhat favours the Federated Suns dropships however as the range closes the pocket warships begin to take heavier and heavier damage as the non-missile weapons of the WOB ships come into range. Worse a warships is simply able to absorb more damage. Still at the same time as the WOB warships are able to begin firing more and more of their fore mounted weapons at the oncoming dropships the 300 Davion aerospace fighters are also entering range. Both sides commit to a passing engagement that allows little room for tactical flexibility.

By the time the two formations pass through each other the Davion pocket warship flotilla is a mess of heavily damaged and ruined wrecks. No less than 13 ships have been totally destroyed and not one of the other ships has taken anything less than catastrophic damage. However in taking this damage they have managed to destroy the WoBS Nantes outright, and cripple the WoBS Invincible and WoBS Bunyoro. Only the WoBS Limoges comes through in anything approaching combat effective condition.

At this stage the Davion Admiral releases the fighters who have held position with the destroyers and corvettes to launch, giving them orders to concentrate their fire upon the WoBS Limoges. At the same time a number of NL-42 Battle Taxi's, Vampire dropships and Ares gunboats are also launched. They are given specific orders to target the WoBS Invincible. At the same time the FSS Morgan Hasek-Davion, FSS Ran Felsner and FSS Matilda Davion begin looping around in order to rendezvous with the first and second waves of fighters, along with their escorting frigates. The destroyers and corvettes at the pirate jump point also begin making their way behind their fighter waves to close the distance with the enemy warships slowly.

What few fighters and dropships remain to the WOB task force are nowhere near sufficient to ward off the incoming third wave which breaks into two contingents when it reaches range. The first, consisting of four whole aerospace regiments bares down on the WoBS Limoges and in a single pass destroys the vessel. No less than a dozen nuclear tipped missiles slam into it at almost the exact same moment. The fighters then sweep down on the heavily damaged WoBS Bunyoro and with on-board weapons strafe the corvette until it begins to break apart. At the same time the second element to the third wave consisting of the rest of the fighters as escorts and the various transports hurtles towards the WoBS Invincible. Within minutes reports are coming in from all over the ship that battle armoured marines are breaking through the hull, forcing dropship docking ports and even forcing their way into the hangers. The few WOB marines and crewmen are soon fighting running gun battles against vastly better equipped and larger forces throughout the ship.

By the time the Davion warships come into range of the WoBS Invincible the ship is largely in the hands of the marine contingents - who's only concern for most of the fighting has been to prevent some fanatical crew member destroying the ship by detonating the missiles and shells in the armouries. A prize crew is swiftly dispatched. At the same time a message is sent via a corvette to the waiting transports of the ground forces who are soon jumping into the system and beginning to head for the planet - under warship escort.

Field Marshal Ardan Sortek from his command post aboard the Conquistador class FSS Hanse's Right Hand oversee's the landing of his troops. The 1st Aragon Borderer's and the 1st Kittery Borderer's land at the ruined spaceport and capital city and begin a mixture of relief, rebuilding and fortification efforts. At the same time the initial landing is conducted by the elite troops of the 2nd New Avalon Cavaliers - who proceed to do a combat drop at the nearest suitable landing site to the huge mountain complex of DefHes. They are almost immedietly attacked by the 2nd Shadow Division and engage in a brutal and often short ranged firefight. The slight under strength reinforced regiment of the 2nd Cavaliers had dropped into the fight with 10 companies and a command lance. By the time they have thrown the 2nd Shadow Division back and secured the landing sites they have been reduced to a single reinforced battalion. The 2nd Shadow Division is in even worse shape, having less been repulsed and more wiped out. As soon as the landing zone is secure Field Marshal Sortek begins pouring the other formations under his command onto the planet. As soon as it has landed the 5th FedSun's Dragoons RCT heads straight for the main gates of the mountain complex and engages the defending 1st Shadow Division heavily. At the same time the 1st Arcadian RCT deploys hurriedly and having contacted the fighting garrison is admitted via some of the back doors and secret access tunnels that they still head. It joins the fight from the inside of the mountain, reinforcing and in many cases replacing the battered troops who have been fighting alone for so long. The 1st St Ives Cheveau-Legers is the final unit to land and swiftly heads to reinforce the struggling 5th FedSun's Dragoons.

Sortek himself lands (under strict orders) with the St Ives Cheveau-Legers with a small contingent of bodyguards from no lesser formation as the 1st Davion Guards. Ordering the 2nd New Avalon Cavaliers to stand down and repair as best they can he orders the 1st Aragon Borderer's to deploy from their own landing zone and sweep towards the factory to pick off any roving WOB patrols or formations. Using the 1st Arcadian's and whats left of the LAAF formations within the mountain as an anvil he has the 5th FedSun's Dragoons and 1st St Ives Cheveau-Legers act as a hammer, forcing their way slowly inside. The fighting around the main entrance is not only prolonged but also bloody and it isn't until the 28th that the 5th FedSun's finally manages to take and hold the gates. This traps the 1st, 4th and 5th Shadow Divisions within the mountain, between the Arcadian's and LAAF forces and the rest of the AFFS units. The 2nd Shadow Division's survivors by this point have been folded into the 1st which suffered heavy losses trying to hold the gates. With the gate secured the large number of independent battle armoured battalions that were dispatched with the task forces move forward and begin to deploy to take back the facility one fitting out bay, production line and storage depot at a time...

[Billy Boy Mark II]

For the record... the WOB is about to break out the WMD to try and get themselves out of this mess... All personnel please report to your bunkers and don hazmat gear and take your rad pills... I repeat... All personnel please report to your bunkers and don hazmat gear and take your rad pills...

[Adventwolf]

And both parties get hit hard in July. With the WoB losing even more ships and their ground forces about to commit suicide by nuclear explosion this was a major loss. Granted the suicide should hurt several commands that the FedSuns deployed and wreck a good portion of the industrial complex on the planet so it is a minor win as well.

While the Lyrans have been expanding their Production somewhat this will force them to increase that expansion massively to make up for the loss and to make it harder to get hit like that again. Plus they should be finding the underwater factories soon and getting those up and running as well.

For warships since they are focused on lighter ships at the moment that means that they would only have made plans and designs for new ships but not built any new yards or hulls yet. With the experience from the Fox and the Mjolnir design and development they have all they need to revamp their older designs. They need smaller cruisers so making a Commonwealth III Cruiser with new upgrades and better weapons would have been easy. Same with a Destroyer class they have the clan Vincent class which by size alone is a Destroyer reworking the ship into an actual Destroyer would not be a major problem.

As a way to restore Peter's reputation and standing it can be revealed that he had the work on making the new designs done on his orders in secret. After all the FedSuns did a lot of their work in secret for a long time by hiding it behind other works. There is no reason that the Lyrans couldn't have done the same even if they never got to the building part before he died. This can be seen as Peter's last gift to the Lyran peoples and his son. In death he would have achieved his legacy and place in history as the man that created the new modern Lyran Navy.

[cawest]

man I so got into this update.... I missed dinner.  wife not happy... but I am and she is a good cook. 

[paulobrito]

high price to pay my friend, high price to pay.

[Billy Boy Mark II]

man I so got into this update.... I missed dinner.  wife not happy... but I am and she is a good cook.

well that's a high compliment! :D

[Chris OFarrell]

3070 - July - Operation Nightfire

*insert reaction here*

The WOB warships at Hesperus consist of the WoBS Invincible, the Tharkad class battlecruiser that the Word of Blake had mysteriously came into possession off and refurbished and the WoBS Nantes and WoBS Limoges, both Suffren class destroyers and 3 Zechetinu II corvettes - the WoBS Hare, WoBS Foxhound and WoBS Bunyoro. The WoBS Hare and WoBS Foxhound were deployed at the Zenith and Nadir jump points respectively, with the other ships orbiting the world of Hesperus itself. Their primary role was to safeguard the elite Shadow Divisions deployed upon the planet below and they were considered more than sufficient to defeat any Lyran Alliance effort to break the blockade of the planet.

Eh, depends how desperate they get. But it works!

What they were not sufficient to deal with however was the ships of Operation Nightfire. The AFFS High Command had been paying careful attention to the LAAF's intelligence briefings that were being forwarded to them about the enemy deployments at Hesperus and they knew that the bulk of the warships were in orbit with a single corvette deployed at each jump point as a trip wire. As such Fleet Admiral Buchwald had made every effort to ensure that the Federated Sun's Navy would sweep the skies clear of the WOB ships.

On the 18th of July Task Force Nightfire jumped into the Hesperus system in three flotillas. At the Nadir jump point the 1st Division of the 3rd Corvette Flotilla jumped into the system while at the Zenith jump point the 2nd Division of the 3rd Flotilla jumped in. Consisting of older Fox I vessels they were still considered more than adequate to take care of a single Zechetinu II corvette - particularly as they were all carrying a Vengeance class dropship along with two Achilles class assault dropships and two Overlord-A3 pocket warships attached to their hulls. Just to make sure each ship was carrying nuclear tipped warheads in their missile tubes right from the start. The Word of Blake had proven they were happy to use nuclear ordinance before and as such the FedSun's were more than happy to return the favour.

As soon as the two Divisions of Fox corvettes jumped into the system and had stabilised they were firing missiles at the enemy corvettes and launching their dropships and fighters just as fast as they possibly good. At the Zenith jump point the WoBS Hare was "lucky" enough to only have a single Fox materialse within range and as such managed to launch her own ready fighters (two) and dropship before the first missile was slamming into her. Her own initial volleys were not nuclear tipped and this gave the FSS Sakhara a critical edge in the initial engagement. By the time the WoBS crew were rushing nuclear ordinance to the launchers their ship was already a streaming wreck and not only had the FSS Sakhara's dropships and fighters joined the battle but the FSS Filtvelt had got into range. At the Nadir jump point the WoBS Foxhound was even less lucky in that the FSS Benet III and FSS Goshen appeared in position to bracket her. Even before she could launch her dropship the missiles were streaming in. Neither Zechetinu II corvette survived the initial engagements and only the FSS Sakhara took any damage at all.

Honestly surprised that the Zechetinu IIs survived long enough to even *think* about returning fire with nukes. They are very very lightweight craft that would be hellishly lucky to survive even a single nuke hit. I would have thought the engagement would go something like this....

Sakhara's Captain is going to have egg on their face for actually getting hit I think. Even if it was barely a scratch.

The third and final group of Davion warships to jump into the system was also the largest, not only in numbers but in ship classes, size and firepower. Three New Sytris II carriers led the way, with ten Davion III destroyers, four Congress-D II frigates and twelve Fox II corvettes escorting them jumped into the system at a pirate point near Hesperus itself. Every single ship capable of carrying dropships was carrying a mix of Vengeance class fighter carriers and various assault and pocket warship dropships. While the air wings launched by the carriers were the single largest number of aerospace fighters each destroyer, frigate and even corvette when you included their dropships added at least a full aerospace regiment of 60 fighters to the task force.

Uh, if they're jumping in at a pirate point, its going to take a very very very long time for the ships to come in given the size of pirate points. That's almost 30 warships. Jumping in at 1 every couple of minutes (which is about as close as you'd want to risk it) it would take almost an hour for the ships to all come in. Plenty of time for the WOB ships to GTFO and simply run like mad for the far side of the solar system or something.

A few seconds appraisal of the situation made the WOB Naval Precentor realise that any attempt to flee would be doomed. The enemy would simply swarm his ships under with repeated fighter strikes long before could withdraw to any safe pirate point and the regular jump points as well as being even further out were also now in the hands of the Federated Suns Navy! Hurriedly organising his four warships and the large flotilla of dropships he broke orbit and began a full burn towards the ships of Operation Nightfire.

You know if the Davion ships were jumping in slowly one at a time as they should have been, it wouldn't be as insane a tactic as it might have sounded. Or if the WOB had mined the jump point for that matter.

Hell of a risk the Davions are taking with this attack and the very aggressive jumping into orbit.

The probably suicidal charge of the WOB ships had been anticipated and the Davion capital ships immediately turned around and began to "flee" to keep the range open. Although the Davion III destroyers and Fox II corvettes deployed to hold their ground at the jump point along with the huge flotilla of assault dropships and pocket warships.

Someone relieve this Admiral. The Corvettes should have stayed mostly with the carriers to screen them (the New Sytris IIs honestly can more or less take care of themselves anyway); the Congress class ships and Davion IIIs should have been the main battle line. With the obscene number of fighters in play on the Davion side, you don't need the Corvettes to screen really. And the warships should have been much more aggressive, moving in with the dropships to both cover them and be covered by them, thickening the nuclear missile salvos to ludicrous levels while adding their own firepower to the engagement.

They would have taken damage, but they would have lost a hell of a lot less dropships and personnel!

Similar to the battle at Benjamin the Davion fighter wings broke into four separate groups. A ground consisting of 6 full aerospace regiments remained with the "fleeing" carriers and frigates, while another 5 regiments stayed with the blocking destroyers and corvettes. The other 10 regiments broken into two waves of 300 fighters and headed for the enemy in a staggered formation. However the second wave is also accompanied by a large formation of 24 Overlord-A3 pocket warships.

Just as at Benjamin (and as was obviously now Federated Suns Navy doctrine) the first wave of fighters concentrated largely on clearing the way for the next wave, concentrating on destroying enemy fighters and dropships and damaging any screening light warships. The WOB dropships and fighters take the brunt of this wave in a swirling melee and are soon either destroyed or so crippled as to be almost worthless in a fleet engagement. Which leaves the way free for the second wave and it's accompanying capital missile armed pocket warships. Unlike at the jump points however this time both sides have nuclear tipped missiles waiting for the range to close. The initial exchange somewhat favours the Federated Suns dropships however as the range closes the pocket warships begin to take heavier and heavier damage as the non-missile weapons of the WOB ships come into range. Worse a warships is simply able to absorb more damage. Still at the same time as the WOB warships are able to begin firing more and more of their fore mounted weapons at the oncoming dropships the 300 Davion aerospace fighters are also entering range. Both sides commit to a passing engagement that allows little room for tactical flexibility.

By the time the two formations pass through each other the Davion pocket warship flotilla is a mess of heavily damaged and ruined wrecks. No less than 13 ships have been totally destroyed and not one of the other ships has taken anything less than catastrophic damage. However in taking this damage they have managed to destroy the WoBS Nantes outright, and cripple the WoBS Invincible and WoBS Bunyoro. Only the WoBS Limoges comes through in anything approaching combat effective condition.

Strike that, don't relieve the Admiral in charge of this fleet, court martial him/her for such incredibly sloppy tactics. Bum-rushing your dropshisp straight at enemy warships already charging straight at you, trying desperate to reach the jump point? When your dropships are faster and more agile and equipped with capital missiles armed with nukes?

Whoever wrote this tactics book needs to be taken out the back and beaten up by Victors elemental bodyguards using said book as a bludgeon.

At this stage the Davion Admiral releases the fighters who have held position with the destroyers and corvettes to launch, giving them orders to concentrate their fire upon the WoBS Limoges. At the same time a number of NL-42 Battle Taxi's, Vampire dropships and Ares gunboats are also launched. They are given specific orders to target the WoBS Invincible. At the same time the FSS Morgan Hasek-Davion, FSS Ran Felsner and FSS Matilda Davion begin looping around in order to rendezvous with the first and second waves of fighters, along with their escorting frigates. The destroyers and corvettes at the pirate jump point also begin making their way behind their fighter waves to close the distance with the enemy warships slowly.

Actually I think at this point the formation should have been moving around back towards the planet and low orbit. The fighters can follow easily enough but there is a limited window to get in touch with the garrison and start laying down massive orbital fire on the WOB field camps and staging grounds.
It's not like anyone is going to notice a few more craters in the surface of THIS planet after all and the more damage you can do now when they're still in shock and reacting, the easier this will go.

And as they did the exact same thing in THEIR invasion, well...

What few fighters and dropships remain to the WOB task force are nowhere near sufficient to ward off the incoming third wave which breaks into two contingents when it reaches range. The first, consisting of four whole aerospace regiments bares down on the WoBS Limoges and in a single pass destroys the vessel. No less than a dozen nuclear tipped missiles slam into it at almost the exact same moment.

Court Martial these pilots too; a couple of hundred aerospace fighters making an attack run land only twelve Nuclear hits on a damaged Suffren? Apparently wasting all their nukes too as they have to fall back onto gun runs for their next target? Yeash! Either the AFFS desperatly needs to design a much better anti-ship nuclear missile for aerospace fighters, or, their pilots need to spend a LOT more time in the simulators.

The fighters then sweep down on the heavily damaged WoBS Bunyoro and with on-board weapons strafe the corvette until it begins to break apart. At the same time the second element to the third wave consisting of the rest of the fighters as escorts and the various transports hurtles towards the WoBS Invincible. Within minutes reports are coming in from all over the ship that battle armoured marines are breaking through the hull, forcing dropship docking ports and even forcing their way into the hangers. The few WOB marines and crewmen are soon fighting running gun battles against vastly better equipped and larger forces throughout the ship.

Yeah, Battle Armor forcing a boarding action with overwhelming numbers is just a GG scenario really. Although it probably also helped that the crew initially just though they were waiting for the Coup de grâce ... right up until the first battle claw suddenly tore through the bulkhead near the horrified crew in Corridor C-II and an armored helmet poked its head through shouting "HHHHEEEERRRRSS JOHNNY!" 

By the time the Davion warships come into range of the WoBS Invincible the ship is largely in the hands of the marine contingents - who's only concern for most of the fighting has been to prevent some fanatical crew member destroying the ship by detonating the missiles and shells in the armouries. A prize crew is swiftly dispatched. At the same time a message is sent via a corvette to the waiting transports of the ground forces who are soon jumping into the system and beginning to head for the planet - under warship escort.

That pirate point is REALLY going to be crowded :D

Field Marshal Ardan Sortek from his command post aboard the Conquistador class FSS Hanse's Right Hand

He must HATE that name :D

oversee's the landing of his troops. The 1st Aragon Borderer's and the 1st Kittery Borderer's land at the ruined spaceport and capital city and begin a mixture of relief, rebuilding and fortification efforts.

I'm honestly surprised that there are any civilians left alive. Heph II has a very very low population, deliberately after all. And I can't see the Shadow Divisions being exactly inclined to leave any alive.

At the same time the initial landing is conducted by the elite troops of the 2nd New Avalon Cavaliers - who proceed to do a combat drop at the nearest suitable landing site to the huge mountain complex of DefHes. They are almost immedietly attacked by the 2nd Shadow Division and engage in a brutal and often short ranged firefight.

See people, THIS is why you land with a flotila of Fox IIs skimming the very edge of the atmosphere with forward observers in aerospace fighters circling, smashing a massive defensive laydown barrage right on top of the heads of the WOB as soon as they mass and try to attack. With other units interdicting the main DefInf entrance as anyone tries to fall back to it...

Not like the Lyrans are loosing anything important at this stage on the outside of the plant.

The slight under strength reinforced regiment of the 2nd Cavaliers had dropped into the fight with 10 companies and a command lance. By the time they have thrown the 2nd Shadow Division back and secured the landing sites they have been reduced to a single reinforced battalion. The 2nd Shadow Division is in even worse shape, having less been repulsed and more wiped out.

That's pretty damn brutal - but a Shadow Division getting wiped out is ALWAYS worth a celebration!

As soon as the landing zone is secure Field Marshal Sortek begins pouring the other formations under his command onto the planet. As soon as it has landed the 5th FedSun's Dragoons RCT heads straight for the main gates of the mountain complex and engages the defending 1st Shadow Division heavily.

I'll say it again. Find the grid squares the ****** are hiding in and remove them :p

At the same time the 1st Arcadian RCT deploys hurriedly and having contacted the fighting garrison is admitted via some of the back doors and secret access tunnels that they still held. It joins the fight from the inside of the mountain, reinforcing and in many cases replacing the battered troops who have been fighting alone for so long. The 1st St Ives Cheveau-Legers is the final unit to land and swiftly heads to reinforce the struggling 5th FedSun's Dragoons.

"Sam, the Eagles ... err ... the Davions are coming!!" Although you'd think that the bulk of the Battle Armor would have gone in THIS way to help the troops still fighting.

Sortek himself lands (under strict orders) with the St Ives Cheveau-Legers with a small contingent of bodyguards from no lesser formation as the 1st Davion Guards. Ordering the 2nd New Avalon Cavaliers to stand down and repair as best they can he orders the 1st Aragon Borderer's to deploy from their own landing zone and sweep towards the factory to pick off any roving WOB patrols or formations.

Well, the WOB do have some decent Mechs, I'm sure the geeks in the Cavaliers will be interested in dissecting the place.

Using the 1st Arcadian's and whats left of the LAAF formations within the mountain as an anvil he has the 5th FedSun's Dragoons and 1st St Ives Cheveau-Legers act as a hammer, forcing their way slowly inside. The fighting around the main entrance is not only prolonged but also bloody and it isn't until the 28th that the 5th FedSun's finally manages to take and hold the gates. This traps the 1st, 4th and 5th Shadow Divisions within the mountain, between the Arcadian's and LAAF forces and the rest of the AFFS units. The 2nd Shadow Division's survivors by this point have been folded into the 1st which suffered heavy losses trying to hold the gates. With the gate secured the large number of independent battle armoured battalions that were dispatched with the task forces move forward and begin to deploy to take back the facility one fitting out bay, production line and storage depot at a time...

Going to be bloody work, but at this point the Shadow Divisions are probably about as banged up as the Lyrans were and with this many fresh troops to throw at the problem, it should be over pretty quickly.

Someone send the Lyrans a fax and tell them the good news. It also would mean that Adam can release the units he's been gathering to relieve the place, except a token unit to go and wave the flag I suppose, to counter attack on the planets the FWL are attacking/have taken. Try to clear up this damn mess and encourage the FWL to come to the table to agree to some kind of settlement - although I'm sure the WOB will not exactly be happy with Connie if she tried that...

Good stuff dude. Keep it coming!
I'm almost tempted to write a bit of an omake, as it were, of the naval battle here ... because it does sound pretty awesome.

[Billy Boy Mark II]

3070 - July Interlude - Bitter Orders

Imperial Palace
Luthien
Pesht District
Draconis Combine

Theodore Kurita, Coordinator of the Draconis Combine and lord of everything he surveyed stared at the reports in front of him from the front lines and felt nothing but despair. This was no longer a mere war between nations, but a fight for the very survival of his realm and dynasty. He had sorely underestimated Victor Davion's resolve to push home this fight and now it could cost House Kurita everything. For a moment he tried to rally his own thoughts, reminding himself that the Pesht District was still untouched, he still commanded the fresh troops based in the Kessel, Vega and Buckminster Prefectures who could be used to counter this invasion... As long as he was prepared to risk Clan Ghost Bear crossing the border and smashing their way to Luthien in a matter of months... The brief hope passed and black despair closed in around him again, tightening it's grip on his heart...

The screams of the medical alarms that were now his constant companions drove home that it wasn't merely despair that was causing the agony in his chest. As he fell backwards he managed to whisper a final command as the darkness closed in around him to the bodyguards and doctors who were rushing to his side. "Bring me my son... Bring me Minoru... And my wife..."

Slowly Theodore awoke, what seemed an eternity later. He was in his bedchambers, that much was obvious. He was also heavily drugged, his mind shackled and slow. Around his bed hovered a half dozen of the finest surgeons and doctors within the Draconis Combine, so clearly he had had another heart attack. Although slow, his mind remained enough capacity to realise this one had been serious given the grave faces of the medical staff. Opening parched lips he rasped and coughed, before finally able to speak. "Water... How long...?"

As a tube of water was hurriedly brought, no doubt pre-tested for any poisons by his bodyguards and by the ISF, a doctor leaned forward and informed him that he had been unconscious for a week following the "incident". A whole week. "How... bad?"

The looks on the doctors faces said it all and before one of them could lie and condemn himself the Coordinator raised a finger to summon one of his guards. The ornately armoured bulk of an Otomo warrior was at his bedside in seconds one hand on the ceremonial and yet totally functional Katana at his waist the other on the butt of his pistol. "Your command lord?"

"If any... of... these... fools utter a single... word... of falseness... kill them. How bad?" Theodore whispered, the water at least having eased his throat.

Glancing at each other, finally the senior surgeon spoke. "It is not good my lord. Your heart has been heavily damaged. Perhaps... perhaps a transplant might be the best option available in the circumstances."

"No." Theodore dismissed the suggestion and glanced at the guard. "Send for my wife and son... and Tai-sa's Meshune and Tachibana."

"They await your word outside my lord."

"Good. Send them in." The Coordinator had expected no less.

A few minutes later both his wife and son entered and bowed deeply followed by Tai-sa Meshune of the Otomo and Tai-sa Tachibana of the Izanagi Warriors. All four were in the uniform of the DCMS. Good. With a hand gesture he summoned them closer and at the same time ordered the medical staff from the room. "Tai-shu Sakade. Tai-sa Kurita. Tai-sa Meshune. Tai-sa Tachibana. Here the words of your lord and obey. I hereby name my son Minoru Kurita as my heir and as Kanrei. I hereby instruct him to seek peace with the Yellow Bird in order to preserve the Dragon. In my name. I order that all loyal officers and men of the DCMS obey his words as my own until I am recovered. I order you Tai-shu Sakade, Tai-sa Meshune and Tai-sa Tachibana to support him unto death against any and all... would be usurpers. Do you hear me? Do you obey?"

Both non-Kurita officers went to their knees and bowed their heads. "We hear you lord. We will obey."

Tai-shu Sakade took her husbands hand within her own and bowed. "Your words will be followed lord."

Minoru Kurita slowly knelt as well. "I will obey father. Though your words bring me no joy."

"I do not expect them too. It is a bitter tea to sip my son. But we have been defeated. If this war continues it will destroy the Combine and our House. That cannot be permitted. You will make peace with Victor Davion. Obtain the best terms possible. Suggest to Davion that if the war continues we will be forced to use more desperate tactics that will only devastate both sides. We must obtain terms however. They will not be pleasant I know. You will do this in my name. So that your own reign is untainted by the peace. I will then... abdicate... and you will rule. You will rebuild the Combine so that one day we might be avenged upon House Davion. Do you understand?" Left unsaid was that Theodore Kurita intended to abdicate no doubt by suicide to cleanse the shame of the peace.

Minoru ignored the kneeling officers, even his own mother, and nodded firmly. "I understand and I swear I will avenge this shame."

"I know you will... If you can, spare Hohiro." Theodore's voice almost broke at the last.

"I will do my best father." Which was all that Minoru was prepared to promise. For all his small stature and bookish ways everyone in the room could see the inner strength that those who knew him had always known was there. If anything his time in Clan Nova Cat had only tempered this strength. "He might... resist."

"He will. If he does, he must be dealt with. Yet temper your resolve with mercy if you can. For your mother's and I's sake." Tomoe Sakade said nothing, still kneeling with her head bent as her husband discussed the potential necessity of executing her eldest child with her youngest.

"If he can be spared he will be father." Minoru promised.

"Good. It is all I can ask. Now go. Arrange a meeting with Davion. Make peace. Before he tears more worlds from the Dragon's Realm. Tai-sa's, leave us. I wish time with my wife..."

All three officers marched from the room and did not look back as Tai-shu Sakade rose and became Tomoe Sakade and leaned over her husbands body to stroke his face as both of them wept for what had been ordered here today... For the Combine, for House Kurita and for their family...

[Adventwolf]

Well at least Teddy was smart enough to remove his failure of a son for one that is better suited for the role. If Minoru might be able to get decent terms for all that Victor has mauled the Combine he has overstretched his forces at this point. He might be willing to return some of the worlds he has taken or has under siege. Granted they will probably be stripped of value and the people might leave with the FedSuns forces instead as well.



But it looks like some kin slaying is in the future for house Kurita. It is for the best though the older brother would never allow the peace to work. Especially if his attack on Verde happens before the talk start or even worse during the talks. He will need to be handed over or killed for that.

[PsihoKekec]

In his current state of mind, Hohiro just might try to kill Minoru when he learns of negotiations. And WoB will happily facilitate that.

[Chris OFarrell]

Alright Victor, I think this time you've made your point :D

Time to wrap it up. The Federated Suns has taken back every world ever lost to the Combine and THEN some. So, awesome there.
The key military-industrial strength of the Combine has been crippled with their best shipyards lost and some of their biggest mech factories taken over. They've lost a district capital and had others raided with impunity.

And the Combines strategic situation is utterly FUBAR. With the Federated Suns on one side and the Ghost Bears on the other? And the Federated Suns growth only seeming to bloody redouble every year or two while the Combines economy is circling the drain somewhere?

The Combine has turned into the new Capellan Confederation :D
I'd expect a Black Dragon coup attempt within 6 months really. Now that House Kurita has shown such stunning weakness and even the more loyal population members are probably all increasingly dubious...


Plus, a ceasefire and then a peace treaty works well for Victor. He can afford to pull a lot of his forces off the border thanks to the absoloute assreaming the DCMS has taken, even as the Davion Military Industrial Complex pours material into the expanded Draconis March to stand up new milita units on the conquered worlds faster than the entire damn DCMS can rebuild!

And then all those troops and ships Victor has freed up can be deployed. Some probably back to duty stations in the Crucis, Capellan and League marches to rebuild to full strength. But others ...

Well between Terra and the Clan front helping the Lyrans, I'm sure there are plenty of new fights to be had...

Although something tells me that Hohiro is going to be quietly fragged by his own officers. Or perhaps those corvettes he sent orders to, demanding their Captain and XO be shot for DARING to not die uselessly in a BANZAI CHARGE IN SPAAAAACCEE will just do the universe a favor and level his HQ with an orbital strike before ****** off to defect to the AFFS, who have plenty of slots open for crews of their impressive skills! :D  >:D

With all that said, I DO hope that Victor makes Minoru squirm. With he or his people pointing out that his family started the ****** war for no other reason than they are STILL drinking the damn koolaid of KURTIAN MANIFEST DESSSSTINNNNYYY! So, please Minoru, explain why we shouldn't have 100% confidence that his last instructions from his father were to beg for peace now while secretly planning to rebuild and try AGAIN a generation from now?

Oh - and on that note, Victor should flat out demand as a non-negotiable point, his son being sent to him. Period. I'm sure his wife can be brought around easily enough to accept him as being part of the extended family, albeit one with iron clad legal protections in place to ensure that he has no rights to the Throne of course. But its best to remove the threat of the kid - and as Victor is hardly going to have his own son killed, taking him in and raising him in the Federated Suns (or under an assumed name or something in secret, or in the Lyran Alliance perhaps after calling in a favor?) is the best solution. With a little TLC and love, he might become a valued member of the family, loyal and earning his own place...

Just a thought :)

[Billy Boy Mark II]

Alright Victor, I think this time you've made your point :D

Time to wrap it up. The Federated Suns has taken back every world ever lost to the Combine and THEN some. So, awesome there.
The key military-industrial strength of the Combine has been crippled with their best shipyards lost and some of their biggest mech factories taken over. They've lost a district capital and had others raided with impunity.

And the Combines strategic situation is utterly FUBAR. With the Federated Suns on one side and the Ghost Bears on the other? And the Federated Suns growth only seeming to bloody redouble every year or two while the Combines economy is circling the drain somewhere?

The Combine has turned into the new Capellan Confederation :D
I'd expect a Black Dragon coup attempt within 6 months really. Now that House Kurita has shown such stunning weakness and even the more loyal population members are probably all increasingly dubious...


Plus, a ceasefire and then a peace treaty works well for Victor. He can afford to pull a lot of his forces off the border thanks to the absoloute assreaming the DCMS has taken, even as the Davion Military Industrial Complex pours material into the expanded Draconis March to stand up new milita units on the conquered worlds faster than the entire damn DCMS can rebuild!

And then all those troops and ships Victor has freed up can be deployed. Some probably back to duty stations in the Crucis, Capellan and League marches to rebuild to full strength. But others ...

Well between Terra and the Clan front helping the Lyrans, I'm sure there are plenty of new fights to be had...

Although something tells me that Hohiro is going to be quietly fragged by his own officers. Or perhaps those corvettes he sent orders to, demanding their Captain and XO be shot for DARING to not die uselessly in a BANZAI CHARGE IN SPAAAAACCEE will just do the universe a favor and level his HQ with an orbital strike before ****** off to defect to the AFFS, who have plenty of slots open for crews of their impressive skills! :D  >:D

With all that said, I DO hope that Victor makes Minoru squirm. With he or his people pointing out that his family started the ****** war for no other reason than they are STILL drinking the damn koolaid of KURTIAN MANIFEST DESSSSTINNNNYYY! So, please Minoru, explain why we shouldn't have 100% confidence that his last instructions from his father were to beg for peace now while secretly planning to rebuild and try AGAIN a generation from now?

Oh - and on that note, Victor should flat out demand as a non-negotiable point, his son being sent to him. Period. I'm sure his wife can be brought around easily enough to accept him as being part of the extended family, albeit one with iron clad legal protections in place to ensure that he has no rights to the Throne of course. But its best to remove the threat of the kid - and as Victor is hardly going to have his own son killed, taking him in and raising him in the Federated Suns (or under an assumed name or something in secret, or in the Lyran Alliance perhaps after calling in a favor?) is the best solution. With a little TLC and love, he might become a valued member of the family, loyal and earning his own place...

Just a thought :)

In fairness - right now peace works for the AFFS too. A LOT of their best units are now hovering at just barely combat effective. While none of them have been destroyed and they are in a lot better situation than the DCMS the war is starting to take it's toll.

For instance:

1st Kestrel Grenadiers - 40%
1st Argyle Lancers - 60%
4th Ceti Hussars - 40%
1st Crucis Lancers - 50%
3rd Crucis Lancers - 50%
2nd Dragonlords - 40%
3rd FSAC - 50%
4th FSAC - 60%
1st FedSuns Dragoons - 40%
1st Lexington Combat Guards - 30%
4th Syrtis Fusiliers - 40%
etc...

Now all of these commands remain viable. But one more big battle and we're talking having to roll units together to keep them combat effective. As it stands with the intent of maintaining experience levels by slow build up's some of these units will be almost 5-6 years before they are back to full strength. If the war goes on for even another 2-3 months then the AFFS is going to see some of it's best units be reduced to cadre or worse.

And while most of their warships haven't taken a lot of damage - extended operations in a combat zone does tend to add up to a need for more maintenance, crews worn out, etc... The losses amongst the fighter pilots also need to be made up. Doctrines need to be reevaluated - the FedSun's Navy is now THE premier carrier force. but they also know they've made mistakes due to sheer inertia and lack of experience in massive warship deployments. Time to reflect and improve on doctrines is needed.

Plus time to actually build up a network of new DMM units, probably some more Avalon Hussars based in the new conquests and some Borderer regiments will only strengthen the AFFS's hold.

The economy in the FedSuns hasn't really been hit by the war. But it hasn't exactly been growing at it's normal rate. Time to stop, let the economy grow again - and absorb the conquests and turn them into productive worlds? That makes the FedSun's even stronger if the Kurita's get any ideas about reversing the war.

The Combine is heading for a civil war. Right now it's just a coin toss to see whether is a Kurita-Kurita two way or a Kurita-Kurita-Black Dragon three way.

Victor (at least in MY timeline) isn't an idiot. He hasn't drank the magic coolaid. He KNOWS that the Kurita's fundamental viewpoint is "we are destined to rule the stars" and that they tend to never forget a slight. He's pistol whipped them twice now and seized some serious worlds from their realm. He knows they aren't going to forgive and forget and frankly Minoru would be a fool to try and pretend. So the odds of Victor giving back an inch of hard won ground? Minoru can forget it. A major concession might just be letting the commands holding out on say Iruzun fall back unopposed. Minoru will probably argue that any world that is still "fighting" should stay with the Combine, but if Victor says "well let's continue and let it play out..." The DCMS forces on almost all of them are on their last legs. The only world the Kurita's have a favourable balance of forces on right now is Iruzun and that's only until the 3 new Avalon Hussars RCT's arrive. Who are already in system and by the time Minoru can talk with Victor will be on planet.

Kitsune Kurita is a MAJOR issue. He's a headache for Minoru AND Victor. if he stays in the Combine - a potential threat to Minoru but a potential weapon against the Davions. If he is handed over to the Davions, he remains a threat to both houses. There isn't a win here for anyone. Even if he is raised by Victor and loves his father and step mother and siblings... Who's to say his children will feel the same about their cousins? Or who's to say that Burton Davion wont try and set his half brother up as Coordinator in 30 years time?

[wolfcannon]

i like that idea honestly .

[Billy Boy Mark II]

i like that idea honestly .

Given my current writing speed that mean's I'd still be writing this timeline in about 7 years :D

[Adventwolf]

Honestly the best thing for the kids is to have his memory altered and him set up to live a normal life in a quiet corner. Bringing him in to either house will never work. He is a bastard so treat him like one set up a decent life but make sure he is never near any kind of connection to you. Of he doesn't know who he is then the threat is removed and any children from his line are also taken care of as a threat.

[Billy Boy Mark II]

Honestly the best thing for the kids is to have his memory altered and him set up to live a normal life in a quiet corner. Bringing him in to either house will never work. He is a bastard so treat him like one set up a decent life but make sure he is never near any kind of connection to you. Of he doesn't know who he is then the threat is removed and any children from his line are also taken care of as a threat.

The ideal situation (dynasticaly speaking) is what the Swedish Royal House did. Wait a generation or two and hope that the "loose end" only has a single heir and marry said heir back into your mainline. So combining the two "claims" into one. But that involves a few generations of risk.

[Adventwolf]

The ideal situation (dynasticaly speaking) is what the Swedish Royal House did. Wait a generation or two and hope that the "loose end" only has a single heir and marry said heir back into your mainline. So combining the two "claims" into one. But that involves a few generations of risk.

Sort of the official story and the one that has all the documents and records backing it up is that Kitsune is the son of a minor Kurita cousin. And that Victor's bastard with Omi died with the mother. Unless both sides want to reveal the truth which puts both of them at risk that will remain the story. He has as much claim to either throne as any other minor branch of either family. He definitely doesn't know the truth since he is too young for that kind of secret so there is no risk from him telling anyone. Alter his memory of being a Kurita and put him in some quiet corner and the threat disappears since he will never know he has claims to anything and neither will his children know anything either.

[Niopsian]

The ideal situation (dynasticaly speaking) is what the Swedish Royal House did. Wait a generation or two and hope that the "loose end" only has a single heir and marry said heir back into your mainline. So combining the two "claims" into one. But that involves a few generations of risk.

Less perfect solution, Victor gets Kitsune back and once he reaches 18 Kitsune joins ComStar and sets a new in universe precedent of minor or inconvenient nobility "taking the white".  :P

[Adventwolf]

Less perfect solution, Victor gets Kitsune back and once he reaches 18 Kitsune joins ComStar and sets a new in universe precedent of minor or inconvenient nobility "taking the white".  :P

That won't do anything joining ComStar doesn't mean you give up your claims or titles. It also doesn't stop them from having children that can also cause trouble. ComStar is a secular organization now and nothing in their order will stop Kitsune from being a threat if anything he becomes a bigger threat. He could gain power and influence in the order and use that to push his claim.

[PsihoKekec]

Given my current writing speed that mean's I'd still be writing this timeline in about 7 years :D

Considering the only timeline I recal to have higher writing speed is Davion&Davion (Deceased)...

[Billy Boy Mark II]

Considering the only timeline I recal to have higher writing speed is Davion&Davion (Deceased)...

Well I do my best!!! I have to work sometimes after all! ;)

[paulobrito]

Work? Don't tell us you are one of these, LOL.

[Billy Boy Mark II]

Work? Don't tell us you are one of these, LOL.

Yup... Gotta pay for the battlemech books somehow!

[Chris OFarrell]

In fairness - right now peace works for the AFFS too. A LOT of their best units are now hovering at just barely combat effective. While none of them have been destroyed and they are in a lot better situation than the DCMS the war is starting to take it's toll.

For instance:

1st Kestrel Grenadiers - 40%
1st Argyle Lancers - 60%
4th Ceti Hussars - 40%
1st Crucis Lancers - 50%
3rd Crucis Lancers - 50%
2nd Dragonlords - 40%
3rd FSAC - 50%
4th FSAC - 60%
1st FedSuns Dragoons - 40%
1st Lexington Combat Guards - 30%
4th Syrtis Fusiliers - 40%
etc...

True, but the DCMS is in a far worse state and Victor has vastly more untapped reserves. A lot of this comes down to Victors operations being too aggressive, looking to take as many planets as possible rather than a more balanced approach of less planets but more raiding. Heart attack honestly was a major strategic risk and only worked BECAUSE the DCMS was shattered. Paid off for him though as it quite literally DID give Theodore a heart attack, but it could have left him in a very bad position if Theodore opened up the Genocide vault or risked bringing fresh troops in to leapfrog his line and smash deeper planets garrisons.

But he didn't and it proved the DCMS has pretty much collapsed unless they want the Ghost Bears to take everything else. Which is the problem. SOME of the AFFS units might be damaged, there are a ****** more that are not.

To quote the Capt; 'I can do this all day...' is the realisation the Coordinator faces here. Especially as the damaged units can probably bounce 10-20% of their strength as soon as replacement Mechs and equipment arrives and transfers from units off the line (which in turn can be made up from deeper down the chain of other line units, milita units and finally cadets in turn) will take care of the rest pretty quickly.

Now all of these commands remain viable. But one more big battle and we're talking having to roll units together to keep them combat effective. As it stands with the intent of maintaining experience levels by slow build up's some of these units will be almost 5-6 years before they are back to full strength. If the war goes on for even another 2-3 months then the AFFS is going to see some of it's best units be reduced to cadre or worse.

*snort* only if the DCMS has any units that can actually attack, any logistics to support any level of attack or even the will to keep on fighting. Victor may not want to take more planets, but the problem is that the DCMS has been effectively broken in being able to sustain any kind of defense above rifle milita level on almost any planet Victor might want to strike. Unless they leave the Ghost Bears border so wide open that even the conservative bears shrug and say 'well, why not?' and start the clusters jumping across.

But beyond that, those units shouldn't be on the line anymore. They should have been pulled back and new units pushed up by now. Then they can fall back and consolidate / rebuild. Victor has multiple wars going on NOW, not 5 years from now. Consolidate units from the same corps - and pull personnel from other units in the same brigade here and there, backfilling with cadets and transfers. The AFFS has enough depth and units now that while you'll probably have a few RCTs reduced entirely to cadres to be rebuilt as green units, thats just life. You need the units now and Victor SHOULD have entire cities of staff officers already prepositioning the personnel, equipment and cutting the orders to make it happen.

Perhaps they drop from Elite to Veteran for a while? That's more than good enough to get back into the fight. That's where the AFFS has the unbeatable advantage; the sheer logistics engine they have operating now, including vastly more cadets graduating and having the war material to send them on their way, plus a whole raft of expanded units you can easily pull off a lance here, a squadron there they can fill in for, while sending the experience troops to rebuild the shock troop formations while the cadets get settled in with units off the line...

You've created an absolute monster of a military industrial complex here ... kudos :)

The DCMS however has just lost a very large chunk of its.

And while most of their warships haven't taken a lot of damage - extended operations in a combat zone does tend to add up to a need for more maintenance, crews worn out, etc...

Truth - although by the same token the threat from Kuritan warships have been pretty much dropped to next to nothing by this point so he SHOULD have been recalling large chunks of his fleet anyway for crew refresh, resupply and repairs as needed, leaving enough units on hand 'just in case'.

But make a note that the AFFS REALLY needs to get around (especially as they now have the Iron Duke and New Sytris II hulls in service which might make a good starting point) to building a major fleet tender design. A hybrid yardship and support ship that can provide major support services in the field...

The losses amongst the fighter pilots also need to be made up. Doctrines need to be reevaluated - the FedSun's Navy is now THE premier carrier force. but they also know they've made mistakes due to sheer inertia and lack of experience in massive warship deployments. Time to reflect and improve on doctrines is needed.

Yeah ... they're in the middle of a war, they don't have time to pull back and play it safe. And really, thats Buchwalds job.

We've seen plenty of times in war throughout history, especially at times of great innovation like WW2, that when something works or doesn't work, doctrine can get thrown out the airlock in favor of new thinking that in peacetime would take years ... but as you don't have years, you learn the lesson and change tactics. And if there are leaders who can't hack the pace of change or are too set in their ways, they get relieved rapidly.

But yes, they probably do need to replenish their air wings, but again, that should be a constantly ongoing process anyway.
Dropships though are much harder to come by (which again is why whoever was in command of Nightfire needs to be fired!)

Plus time to actually build up a network of new DMM units, probably some more Avalon Hussars based in the new conquests and some Borderer regiments will only strengthen the AFFS's hold.

Honestly at this point far better to stick with Borderer LCTs across the new area as a defensive garrison mindset, with some key 'floating' RCTs backing them up. You can both get them up faster and work with the locals, especially on the liberated FedSuns worlds that are delighted to be back to stand them up quickly. There replacement pipeline for the next few years shouldn't be looking at forming any 'new' RCTs, just replenishing feeder units at the bottom of the pyramid as troops are fed up it into the damaged elites at the top.

The economy in the FedSuns hasn't really been hit by the war. But it hasn't exactly been growing at it's normal rate. Time to stop, let the economy grow again - and absorb the conquests and turn them into productive worlds? That makes the FedSun's even stronger if the Kurita's get any ideas about reversing the war.

That's out of scope though, we're talking about the NOW. And here is where Victors absurd popularity and the fact that they are crushing the hated enemy of the Federated Suns more brutally than ever before comes in. Victor can probably take the economy far FAR worse than it is with the right propaganda campaign if there is a clear and ongoing beneift for the Federated Suns, at least in the short and medium term - and he's nowhere near that yet. People LOVE a war that you're winning against a loathed enemy. And even if the economy is growing slower, its still growing - and everyone is STILL absurdly better off to where they were in say 3060 when Victor took over again. Given the sheer loathing of the Combine in the Suns, there are probably going to be more people pissed that Victor accepted the war ending HERE rather than pushing onto total Victory when the Dragon is clearly on the ropes!!! Especially in the Draconis March. And ESPECIALLY if Victor turns his attention to pulling the Lyrans out of the fire and going back, AGAIN, to focus on the Clans :D

(Some constructive counter-atrocities retaliating for Victors murdering of the Combine jump fleet and recharge stations against civilian targets may well have changed this tune mind you!)

In all honesty it'll take a generation for most of the Kuritian conquests to turn into being a net positive for the Federated Suns. And thats presuming the ISF, Yuzuka, Black Dragons, Kuritan loyalists and so on don't take their time to make life miserable.

The Combine is heading for a civil war. Right now it's just a coin toss to see whether is a Kurita-Kurita two way or a Kurita-Kurita-Black Dragon three way.

Victor (at least in MY timeline) isn't an idiot. He hasn't drank the magic coolaid. He KNOWS that the Kurita's fundamental viewpoint is "we are destined to rule the stars" and that they tend to never forget a slight. He's pistol whipped them twice now and seized some serious worlds from their realm. He knows they aren't going to forgive and forget and frankly Minoru would be a fool to try and pretend. So the odds of Victor giving back an inch of hard won ground? Minoru can forget it. A major concession might just be letting the commands holding out on say Iruzun fall back unopposed. Minoru will probably argue that any world that is still "fighting" should stay with the Combine, but if Victor says "well let's continue and let it play out..." The DCMS forces on almost all of them are on their last legs. The only world the Kurita's have a favourable balance of forces on right now is Iruzun and that's only until the 3 new Avalon Hussars RCT's arrive. Who are already in system and by the time Minoru can talk with Victor will be on planet.

Victor shouldn't be cocky - he has to HOLD the worlds against what is probably going to, on a lot of them the further from the border he gets, especially on worlds that have always been Kuritan and will be hotbeds for generations of insurgency helped by the ISF. I'd be interested to see a map; his best bet for conquests this war would have of course been all the old Fedsuns worlds or worlds that have a long period of being part of the Suns, but also any remaining old TH worlds around Dieron...

But its not about taking the planets, its about HOLDING them. And heart attack frankly may have been a step too far here.

Kitsune Kurita is a MAJOR issue. He's a headache for Minoru AND Victor. if he stays in the Combine - a potential threat to Minoru but a potential weapon against the Davions. If he is handed over to the Davions, he remains a threat to both houses. There isn't a win here for anyone. Even if he is raised by Victor and loves his father and step mother and siblings... Who's to say his children will feel the same about their cousins? Or who's to say that Burton Davion wont try and set his half brother up as Coordinator in 30 years time?

This isn't Game of Thrones  though - he won't be Kitsune Avalon or something, the UNTRUSTWORTHY BASTARD WHO MUST BE GLARED AT WITH GREAT SUSPICION! All other things being equal, if the kids are part of the Federated Suns and raised correctly as family, then they won't be a problem. Especially given the sheer cultural differences in the Federated Suns. And if Burton Davion wants to setup his half brother as Cooridnator in 30 years time? So much the better :)

Seriously though, historically attempts to play this kind of game don't really work in the Suns. Even Micahel Hasek-Davion only had one hope that everyone knew for any chance at the throne; and that was if Hanse died without issue. And that was as an Archduke who had all but run the Federated Suns for Ian and had the backing of another power. And in total secrecy (or so he thought). And that was with Morgan, his son, being groomed by Hanse as his heir anyway. It was all a long shot.

Victor's popularity OTOH is so rock solid that he can openly and publicly take a principled stand on the matter and be supported by it. Embracing Kitsune as family, not a threat. Albeit with him legally excluded from the Succession...

Anyway. Lets see where we go :)

[PsihoKekec]

So Minoru will try to negotiate peace, which is what Victor wants, at least until Verde is masacred. So Minoru will have to offer Victor his brother's head, which considering the fact that Hohiro (aided by WoB and BDS) will violently oppose any negotiations, is inevitable anyway.
So as DCMS is busy killing itself Victor will need to assemble bulk of his navy and dozen or so RCTs in good condition to attack Terra in concert with Comguards, to cut the heart out of the WoB machine (has Jardine been discovered TTL?) and afterwards AFFS can clear out the Protectorate. Following this, he can negotiate white peace between LC and FWL, by using biggest kid on the block authority.
With time, the Falcons and Wolves can be dealt with by LCAF, giving the new Archon much needed political capital. The equation is simple, LC has warship building capacities and Clans don't. They also can build more ASF and dropships, which means that when they decide to go full Clover Spear on the Turkeys, once the Archon is of age, they can control the space, while droping multiple RCTs per cluster.

[kelgar04]

I really want a map now we know how much of the DC territory the fed sun has as well as a sphere wide map.

[Billy Boy Mark II]

3070 - July - Splinter lines

With the launch of Operation Heart Attack even the by now hugely reinforced sinews of the AFFS were strained. Launching such an attack at the start of the war while not easy would have been relatively straightforward. By now however a large number of the closest supply depots and personnel centres had been emptied to support the heavy fighting along the entire border. Still the fact that the AFFS was able to launch such a large scale effort at all at this stage was in itself telling. Despite the heavy combat and large number of commands that had taken heavy damage however in winning the victories of which the people of the FedSun's were so rightly proud, it was noted within Mount Davion that the AFFS still remained a potent force with a large number of combat commands at either full or near full strength. The Avalon Hussar's Brigade for instance had a full nine RCT's that were at 80%+ strength, as was half the Crucis Lancers Brigade, while the Davion Brigade of Guards retained three units at full strength, while the various March Militia formations remained almost untouched, etc... If the war continued the AFFS was more than capable of continuing the fight, although it might require a period of rest and refit as units were transferred between the front lines and rear areas. Just in case Heart Attack proved to be less than a knockout blow plans began to be put in place to arrange this. The Robinson Rangers Brigade in particular was to be tapped to take the place of damaged units - with only the 1st Robinson Rangers heavily damaged so far.

At the same time continued efforts were made to reinforced the Lyran Alliance - from which the news (with the exclusion of Operation Nightfire) seemed to be entirely negative. More and more of the High Command began to consider the "Lyran Front" a potential morass that would suck up resources and units for years if not decades to "prop up" their allies. Initial hopes that the LAAF might be able to throw their weight into an attack on the Kessel and Vega Prefectures to help knock the Dragon out of the war were by now recognised as pipe dreams. Several worse case scenario's began to doubt the survival of the Lyran Alliance with the current wave of disasters unfolding throughout the realm. Quietly a number of staff officers were tasked with operations to stabilise what could be salvaged in the event the state did collapse - and perhaps even more importantly secure certain key worlds either for the Federated Suns or at least friendly successor states. Plans were also begun for the evacuation of Princes's Champion Cox and also the First Princes's nephew from Tharkad if this became necessary.

At the same time Fleet Admiral Buchwald began a group to evaluate critically the performance of the Federated Sun's Navy during active combat operations in an effort to learn what lessons could be taken from this and avoid similar mistakes. Already there were indications that due to the sheer overwhelming superiority of the Federated Sun's Navy in most combat operations a certain degree of tactical inflexibility had began to creep in. This group was also to look at not only how current ships and formations might be better utilised but also what changes could be made to both the ship designs and their tactical formations as well as what ship designs and future squadrons might enhance the Navy. Within a few weeks Jackson Davion set up a similar group of officers for the Regular Army.

The first Clan Nova Cat scouts reached the Davion lines during July, travelling through dead systems these mostly consisted of LF equipped jumpships who had been dispatched immedietly to ensure the route was safe. They jumped into "Barlow's Folly" and much to the delight of the local garrison of the 38th Avalon Hussars referred to it by it's new/old or "correct" name of Cussar. When the Nova Cat Star Commodore became aware of how his initial message had been taken he didn't have the heart to inform the 38th or the world's new government that it was simply because his First Star League era charts for the region had listed the world as Cussar and had not been updated with the Succession War era name. A number of free naval aerospace wings were hurriedly dispatched to Cussar to reinforce the "crossing point" and ensure the safety of the Clan.

At Demeter a third Stuka line goes fully operational on the 18th of July. The plan consists now of a single Guillotine battlemech line and three Stuka aerospace lines. Plans are put in place to diversify the plant particularly given the new security of the reformation of the Arcadian Cuirassiers. A Huscarl-O fighter wing production line and a Lancelot battlemech line are earmarked for immediate construction.

On Markesan the new Jolassa-Kumbold Armoured Weapons plant see's it's first line for the Fury Command Tank go operational. Although a specialised design the sheer increased numbers of RCT's within the AFFS and the strong showing of the design in combat at the front had increased demands that the order book is soon full. Most of the Markesan production is earmarked for the Robinson Rangers and DMM Brigades.

Marlette's Davion-Com plant also see's it's first production facility finished - in this case the Lorica battle armour facility which has been completed in advance of the large number of battlemech production lines under construction. These ComGuard specific suits are immedietly shipped out just as fast as they can be completed due to the sheer demand for them within the ComGuards.

At Northfield the Corsara secondary facility see's the Black Watch battlemech enter production. Perhaps due to the disbandment of the SLDF the previous month demand for this battlemech is low and the bulk of the production ends up being sold to either the ComGuards or various mercenary units. The Northwind Highlanders understandably prefer Northwind produced battlemechs and so show little interest in the Northfield produced design. Sales remain high for the Crab and King Crab's produced at the plant however.

On Dieron itself the Draconis March Heavy Industrial Mech Company "opens" it's first two lines for the Kiso construction mech. The first five years production is immedietly bought by the Duchess of Tortuga, Yvonne Davion-Sandoval who uses them to form "Sandoval-Tortuga Construction Ltd". The company will concentrate largely on large scale infrastructure projects within the Draconis March and Outback region of the Crucis March - for the time being most of this work will be to rebuild war damaged planets from the recent fighting.

Within the League March Hollis Incorporated return Highlander production to the world of Corey. At the current time (largely due to doubts about the loyalty of the firm and the planet and it's location on the border) there are no plans for further expansion. Although sales particularly to the forming League March Militia and the St Ives Lancers remain steady.

On Sarna the Veridan Dynamics plant's Vali goes operation and begins producing Vali artillery tank for the units of the League March. Plans are then put in place to massively increase production of the Tiger medium tank for the local militias and March Militias of the League March.

Hildco Interplanetary completes their Templar-O design which they have acquired under license. As per the terms of this license (and the wishes of the Duchess of St Ives) the Templar-O's produced there will only be routed to units native to the League March. The initial production run is unsurprisingly allocated to the St Ives Lancers - in particular the 1st and 2nd which are woefully under strength and have historically be assault weighted units.

The final industrial expansion within the Federated Sun's is the new Wei based Jalastar Aerospace plant. The first production line goes operation, producing Sparrowhawk light aerospace fighters which are soon being dispatched throughout the League March.

The situation in the Lyran Alliance (as well as of course Operation Heart Attack) take up most of the attention of not only the High Command and First Prince Davion but also the people of the Federated Suns during July. A series of hammer blows to the government of Tharkad causes increasing concerns for the Alliance.

The first of these is the surrender of the 4th Alliance Guard on Bolan. Facing overwhelming enemy numbers and with it's morale in tatters the 4th, never a steady formation at the best of times, seeks terms and surrenders the key border world to League control. Or to the Marik Commonwealth's control. Officially Bolan is "returned" to the Free Worlds League on the 11th of July. The remaining equipment of the 4th Alliance is seized and steps are taken to use it to reform the Bolan Defenders. This defeat finally prompts Tharkad to order the remaining units in the occupied League territories (except Oliver) to withdraw back into Lyran space. The abandoned worlds are immedietly offered membership of the Duchy of Tamarind - and over the course of July-September they accept. While massively overstretching the units of the Duchy, these gains suddenly vault them into a major power within the fractured League. An extremely anti-Lyran power. The Duchy is further reinforced when the Abbey District agrees to associate membership with it. Both Tamarind and the Abbey District put pressure upon Maderas to join one or other of the constituent parts of the Duchy of Tamarind-Abbey.

On the 14th of July - citing the failure of the Lyran Alliance to protect the people of Bolan in particular - Duke Robert Kelswa-Steiner openly addresses the issue of the Isle of Skye seceding from the Lyran Alliance and reforming itself as an independent nation. On Skye itself the 3rd and 4th Skye Rangers as well as the 1st Skye Jaegers express support for this idea, while the 3rd Hesperus Guards remains guardedly neutral. For the time being this is merely talk - but riots erupt across the region.

At the same time a second secessionist movement raises it's head on the Periphery border of the realm. Centred on Inarcs and Winter the movement springs up from almost nowhere. Duchess Tamari LaRue immedietly places herself at the head of this movement and plays a delicate shell game of avoiding full on treason while also appealing to as many competing factions within the Periphery border region for support. To some she suggests a rebirth (sans-House Amaris) of the Rim Worlds Republic. To others she suggests that a "Periphery March" could be formed within the Alliance but with greater autonomy. To a handful she even suggests that a new and independent Lyran Rim might even offer said throne to First Prince Victor and form a personal union with the Federated Suns. While so far in the same way as the Skye movement only talk, the growing support from a region long forgotten about by Tharkad for independence or reemergence of the Rim Worlds is shocking and has General of the Armies Adam Steiner frantically trying to find troops to send to the region. With the Duchess of Inarcs now leading the movement it has the backing of the Blackstone Highlanders and the Florida TTM has already had members voice support as well. Production from Inarcs seems to almost immedietly have problems being shipped to the LAAF, although the Blackstone Highlanders are increased to two battalion's in strength and the militia of Inarcs takes shipment of nearly two companies worth of battlemechs.

On the Clan Front, despite the Tamar Galaxy being pushed back by Clan Wolf-in-Exile, the Wolf Clan continues to score victories. On Ballymure, Pandora, Crimmond and Tomans the Wolves have been successful in either destroying the garrison or routing it. The loss of Pandora's factories in particular is galling as the world was defended by the 10th Lyran Guards RCT and 3rd Donegal Guards RCT as well as the planet's local Training Battalion. The 10th Lyran Guards is the only unit to escape the battle, absoring the few survivors of the 3rd Donegal and cadets of the Pandora College Training Battalion. Khan Vlad Ward himself oversaw the almost total annihilation of the 3rd Donegal as it attempted to fall back to it's dropships. Although the situation on Raselgathi and Fort Loudon has been salvaged by the Wolves-in-Exile, they can't remain there or they risk being cut off from Arc Royal. The threat is further emphasised when the worlds of Borghese and Graceland are invaded.

Matters are further complicated when the Duke of Odessa (a known supporter of deposed Archon Katherine Steiner) in the face of the "Wolf threat barrelling down upon him" announces the reformation of the 1st and 2nd Odessa Regulars. The 1st is created from his own personal guard unit - which although officially listed as only a battalion seems to be able to provide nearly 5 companies of battlemechs and an armoured battalion for the new unit, while the 2nd is formed from the local militia units - again which although listed as having few battlemechs appears upon the rolls at nearly 40% strength. He also makes demands that further battlemechs and tanks be shipped to Odessa to aid in the defence of his world should the Wolves attack. Given that his world is in the path between the Clan Wolf invasion and Donegal-Tharkad, it's hard to argue the point that it doesn't need reinforcing. However simply put nobody on Tharkad trusts the Duke. The fact that the world of Odessa's defenders seem to have had roughly double the number of battlemechs anyone thought they did is further cause for alarm to the intelligence agencies! Further alarm is caused when the Duke summarily names his son and heir Luther Fisk "Hauptmann-General" of the new brigade. The officer corp of the new brigade is similarly heavily weighted to supporters of the Duke and the nobility of Odessa.

At the end of July comes a final alarm for Tharkad, when reports begin coming in from the Clan Jade Falcon/Periphery border that a new clan, the Ice Hellions have been sighted at Barcelona, Newton Square and Hood IV. Demands for support and military units from the Periphery go through the roof. Left unsaid in many of these demands is that if they are not met then the worlds may consider aligning with Inarcs.

On the 30th of July Princes's Champion Galen Cox sends a frankly appraisal of the situation to the First Prince. The Lyran Alliance is on it's knees and if the Federated Sun's is going to be able to count upon it as an ally in the future then Operation Nightfire will require to be expanded to give the Alliance time to find it's feet again.

[Shadow_Wraith]

Another nice update!  I wonder what plans can Victor make to save his former half of the realm?