The September coup - LinkNet Wiki entry
BACKGROUND:
Savannah's planetary Senate andadvisory council has effectively been co-opted by 3071 by a Blakist puppet organ that did little more than rubber stamp any demands from Atreus.
While technically still serving the FWL government, planetary leaders had little autonomy and easily went along with increasingly harsh demands from their overlords - including cracking down on civil liberties and mass arrests.
With funding and prompting from the pro-Alys Marik resistance, a small cadre of officials and Military officers began hatching an insurrection. After discreet approaches to several mercenaries came back in the positive, they opened talks with like minded figures on several neighbouring worlds.
THE COUPE:
On September 13, 3071 the plotters struck. Determined to keep neutral militia officers (who were only nominally loyal to Atreus since the '68 interruption) on side, Major General Antonia Greene had invited senior commanders to a secret briefing at the Santa Fe Military Reserve. Once there, officers were informed a take over was now occurring and they would be detained until further notice.
At 0700, as the meeting commenced, militia special forces seized several key targets across the Atlanta-Augusta sprawl: the main government run Tri-Vid station, the Janos Marik Memorial Hospital and main Planetary Police Command compound.
A battalion of armour and infantry loyal to the plotters then closed the downtown streets around the planetary government building. As they formed a cordon, Councillor Adielle Swerringen took to the air announcing Savannah had severed its ties to the Free Worlds League and she was now "planetary governor".
Rebel forces then assaulted the government buildings and arrested most of the senate and advisory council. Seven government ministers were slain during the attack.
So far, OPERATION SEVERANCE had proceeded without a hitch. One militia Major tried to March his combined arms battalion on the government buildings in an effort to end the coup but found himself detained by his own men. Similar incidents occurred across the planet as militia commands turned on themselves, but for the most part the leaderless militia stayed put.
At 0830, Mercenary forces jumped in system - a full fighter squadron swept WoB and militia fighters from the zenith jump point and escorted in several shuttles worth of mercenary infantrymen who assaulted the Olympus class recharge station. The station fell after a brutal six hour fight.
Meanwhile, two dropships of Mercenary forces had descended from a closer Pirate Point and dropped just outside the capital under the guise of regularly scheduled merchantmen.
After forming up, this combined arms battalion appeared to march on the capital - but they really took up a position in the badlands outside the Word of Blake HPG and garrison at Fort Loudon.
Reacting to the unfolding chaos in the capital, Word commander Precentor Norris Anderson sallied forth - and ran straight into a Mercenary ambush.
Mercenaries - mostly drawn from Cavalli's Cavaliere easily dispatched the two Level IIs of Blakist forces and then wheeled on the capital.
With the arrival of more Battlemech, resistance effectively stopped.
It's done. They're dead.
When the Wobbies came boiling out of their compound we were waiting, dug in across two hills. After we opened up I sent Fire lance and Saladin's tanks rolling around their flanks. About a company of Word mechs, some tanks and BA wandered in. And they didn't stand a chance.
Oh they fought back. Elton will never walk again and his Ph-Hawk is gone. We've made an agreement with the local government to take care of his treatment until he can be transported to his homeworld. And we took care of his pension and severance.
Everyone was banged up. Especially me. That bastard Precentor in his Legacy put a burst of AC fire through my cockpit - one shell shattered the command consul right in front of me and a bit of shrapnel tore off the top of my left shoulder. More artificial parts and the stitches are aching. I'm beginning to feel like one of those bloody bionic Master's Hands were fighting! I guess I'm more widely travelled than most Leaugers but it still gives me the creeps!
I took care of Anderson personally. Despite the wound I was able to close and keep putting gauss slugs into his Legacy. When it keeled over I put one last round through his cockpit before passing out.
Savannah is free from the Blakists. For now. Lord knows how they'll stay that way - I don't see Atreus buying it for long.
December 3071
And just like that, we've officially passed the "Broadsword Enema". We had a discreet feeler put out by someone asking about our experience in planetary assaults and experience against the Word. Oddly, now after weeks of background checks we got an advance and orders to meet in an uninhabited system in Lyran space, where we'll be further transported.
Strange - the bank transfer is Lyran, but the cash looks like it's coming from ComStar.
Either way, they want us to fight Wobbies.
We used the extended rest on Savannah to purchase a full lance straight off the line at Technicron - another two Awesomes and a pair of Quickdraws, combined with close to a full lance of Blakist salvage and another lance of tanks we picked up. That has beefed us up (although we are lacking pilots for most of it)