My thanks to James Tanaga for his continued work with the Fire Mandrill remnants
Unidentified Assaults
Denbar, Capellan Confederation
18th June 3091
Two days had passed since the Capellan WarShip CCSS Tikonov had exploded near the Nadir Point. The Tikonov-class Carrier which had previously been damaged fighting against Federated Suns WarShips in the Vestallas system however it had been completely unprepared for the assaults from an unidentified black coloured WarShip which immediately gone on the attack with a series of Heavy Naval Particle Cannon, Naval Autocannon and Naval Laser fire. Between the Tikonov's initial report of an intruder in the system and the Denbar ground tracking systems losing contact less than an hour had passed. The Tikonov's support DropShips and surviving Aerospace fighters had scattered with the ground teams expecting a blood bath as the WarShip hunted down each remaining craft. Instead a worse nightmare had come true as the WarShip pushed in system.
Before landing on the world the WarShip had settled into a stationary position over the capital city of Denbar a wide-beam broadcast had been sent to the planet “this is Galaxy Commander Grayson Rosse commander of Upsilon Galaxy of Clan Nova Cat. I declare a Trial of Possession for Melissa of the Allard-Liao bloodline. You will surrender her to me or face the consequences.” He had ordered before DropShips began descending into the atmosphere carrying three Clusters of Nova Cats. Grayson had sent his Galaxy's other units to the Davetal system under the Command of Star Colonel Katrine Devalis, his great rival, she had disagreed with his choice something that had not surprised him.
“Galaxy Commander, you have no authority over Denbar, your actions are already a declaration of war! Withdraw immediately or face the consequences.” The commander of the Fourth Liao “The St Andre” Lancers Li Ming Ortega had replied even as Nova Cat units dropped through the air.
Grayson Rosse was not a stupid man he'd listened to his father many times and knew how the Inner Sphere acted and fought. As the Fourth Lancers had replied the powerful sensors on the Lucian Carns, his WarShip, had pinpointed the location of the transmission. Even as Nova Cat OmniMechs and Elementals dropped through the air OmniFighters from the Lucian Carns straffed the Capellan base killing the Fourth Lancers commander and her command lance in a dedicated strike, not the most honourable tactic but an effective one.
The Nova Cat air raid had rallied the Capellan defenders more than expected despite not having an active regiment commander the battalion commanders gained control quickly. The experienced Nova Cat Clusters, the Nova Cat Rangers and Nova Cat Renegades Cluster, engaged the Capellans in a running battle with Grayson leading the fight while the less experienced unit, the 201st Assault Cluster, was held in reserve protecting the Nova Cat landing zone.
The two opposing forces fought for nearly six hours over Denbar until Grayson Rosse reached the Capellan Confederation base eliminating the last defenders. In all the Nova Cats had lost nearly six full Trinaries of troops the entire Nova Cat Rangers had been destroyed while the Renegades were heavily under strength. The 201st Assault Cluster had been pulled from reserve to assist in finishing off the Fourth Liao Lancers. Arriving at the base in time for Grayson to witness Melissa Allard-Liao give birth to the pair's son, a son that Grayson never knew she was expecting, their happiness is cut short as a sniper shot cuts down the Nova Cat Galaxy Commander feet from Melissa Allard-Liao. The Nova Cat counter-attack is devastating destroying the entire building that the sniper had been based from killing the more than a hundred people to kill a single person. The instant brutality of it shocks Melissa Allard-Liao as much as Grayson Rosse's death so close to their reunion.
Rapidly evacuated from the planet Melissa Allard-Liao, her newborn son and the remains of Melissa's unit are taken back to St Ives the Nova Cats following Grayson Rosse's last orders. Arriving on St Ives on the 29th June the arrival of the Lucian Carns is a massive surprise for the people of St Ives who are still reeling from the attack on St Ives by the Manei Domini, the return of their Duchess is seen as a massive boost to their morale as is the presence of the Clan forces. Unfortunately for the people of St Ives the remains of Upsilon Galaxy and the Lucian Carns have no intention of staying in the system once Melissa is safely on St Ives the Nova Cat vessel jump clear heading straight for New Barcella to answer for their actions. The WarShip avoids contact with other units and inhabited systems ignoring all calls from St Ives or from any of the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns units it encounters during their journey home.
What Grayson Rosse had planned for himself and the unit was unknown he would have returned to New Barcella only to face a barrage of Trials and challenges he could not have survived. Upsilon Galaxy's actions following the loss of their commander clearly shows that the unit had no intention remaining within the Compact instead their reasons and actions are left unanswerable due to the death of Grayson Rosse. Regardless St Ives found the boost they needed in their darkest hour two days after returning to St Ives Duchess Melissa Allard-Liao reestablished as leader of the St Ives Compact announces her newly born son and heir as Lucian Allard-Liao, named for the WarShip that brought them home, to the people of St Ives. When questioned about the child's father Melissa replies that the man she loved died saving her and their child ending any further questioning.
Fire Mandrill Scout Mission
Finmark, Periphery
20th June 3091
These Fins bargained well, Cassandra thought to herself as she led her trinary supernova back to its assigned DropShip, one of many Fortress-class DropShips her kindraa had taken a liking to since she became its leader. Just over three months ago, she left All Dawn with her trinary supernova and the newly built Nineteenth Striker Cluster led by Star Colonel Brian Tanaga to this dusty, barren world. Finmark had once been the capital of a Province of the Rim Worlds Republic but the years had not been good to it. For weeks, she negotiated with the surviving locals, nearly ten thousand who fought everyday for survival but had twenty ancient, but well maintained Rampage assault BattleMechs at their disposal. They had finally reached an agreement, the Fins had completely refused to allow her possession of the BattleMech factory at first, she had been informed by the Rim Collection leadership to remove remove the factory from the world as Finmark was too far away properly defend. Unfortunately the locals didn't plan to allow themselves to be robbed nor did Cassandra fancy tangling with their defence force finally they had agreed to being resettled along with their factory to a world within the Rim Collection. They would retain rights over their factory and like her kindraa, they would provide services to the Rim Collection, in the form of supplying BattleMechs and maintenance facilities for their position.
The President’s Council would have to vote to officially accept the agreement, but Cassandra knew they would accept it, for it meant getting a supply of decent assault BattleMechs for them. And us, she thought. Her Kindraa would provide the necessary technology to update the BattleMechs to a modern standard, though she knew she would have to fight Jerold Danforth on that sharing their technology likely wouldn't be popular. Thinking of the man reminded her she had been forced to leave him in charge of their primary enclave on All Dawn. She had wanted Star Admiral Theodore Albiev to remain on All Dawn in her absence, but with him being needed to command the exploration of what was once the Timbuktu Province and also helping to negotiate various worlds into the Rim Collection with Ambassador Robert Strauss, that meant the crusader warrior she long despised but respected was in charge until she returned from this mission. Her lover, Loremaster Jacob Faraday, and his Sixteenth Assault supernova were on a training exercise with the First Rim Lancers on Gillfillan’s Gold trying to foster further relations with the Rim Collection while the other units had remained on All Dawn as protection for their civilians. Cassandra had ordered a solid defence remain on planet at all times and for them to use any and all tactics to provide what remained of their Kindraa Jerold Danford had not liked the "Any and All tactics" orders but he understood them, at least she hoped he did.
At least I was able to see how Star Colonel Brian Tanaga commands the Nineteenth, she thought. A logical thinker, the young Star Colonel did well, keeping his warriors in line while keeping the removal of the ancient Rim Wourlds Republic BattleMech factory smooth. A task that would be nearly completed in a few days, she thought. A task well suited to the new cluster. The Nineteenth and its sister clusters, the First and Seventh Striker clusters, were conceived by Star Captain Lysa Djerassi to help protect and patrol the newly rediscovered worlds and member states of the Rim Collection without weakening their units much, though it meant stripping apart the Kindraa’s Specialist Cluster and keeping its battle clusters at two supernovas in strength. Each cluster held a trinary supernova of OmniMechs and Salamanders, two specialist trinaries, and an independent star of OmniFighters. Assigned their own Odyssey-class JumpShip and their necessary DropShips, including a Titan Monitor, meant the three striker clusters would be highly mobile units.
Halfway to the DropShip, her radio crackled to life. “Kindraa Leader, two JumpShips, escorted by a Samarkand II-class Carrier, just jumped into the system by the zenith jump point. Be advised, we have identified them as belonging to the dezgra Rhinos,” Came the voice of Star Commodore Malcolm Lynn, the commander of the CFM Resolute, the flagship of her kindraa’s naval forces and their primary capital ship, who sounded confused. A few moments went by, than his voice returned. “Kindraa Leader,they now call themselves Clan Stone Spirit. Also, all three monitors that were guarding the zenith jump point are now in combat fighting the carrier. Their DropShips are making a beeline towards Finmark. Advise you prepare defensive positions as the monitors are unlikely to defeat a vessel the size of a Samarkand, quiaff?”
Lovely. “Aff,” she spoke out loud. “Make damn sure that damn carrier does not get into range for an orbital bombardment. We do not need another York to happen, this time against us, quiaff?”
“Aff ovkhan. You can count on that,” was Malcolm’s reply the Resolute was a bigger badder ship than the Samarkand II any day of the week but Cassandra did not like this, what the hell were Clan Stone Rhino or Blood Spirit or Stone Spirit WHATEVER!! She almost shouted, what were they doing out here? She thought her Kindraa safe from such threats could there be a well equipped Clan near her own?
She shook her head and switched channels to connect to all her commanders on the ground and in the air. “Alright, everyone. Change of plans. Damned Stone Rhinos, Stone Spirits, whatever they call themselves now, just showed up and want to pick a fight. Someone get the Fins on the comm. We likely will need their help. And tell them to move their asses if they want off this world, quiaff? Star Colonel Brian Tanaga, I want our DropShips planet side to get as close to the factory as possible. Hopefully, that will dissuade them from orbital bombardment if the carrier gets into position to do so. Quiaff?”
As her fellow warriors replied their affirmations of their orders, only one thought came through her head. Just need to stall them long enough to get the factory and the Fins to our JumpShips. Easy quiaff?
Three days later, her thoughts became a reality. The Stone Spirit carrier Major Spirit had destroyed the first two Titan Monitors with relative ease before the last Titan Monitor gotten close to the carrier causing some telling damage before being caught by the Carrier's defence fire. The Titan Monitor had no chance once under the guns of the WarShip its commander had tried to ram the bigger vessel but the Major Spirit's gunners were too fast and had gunned the DropShip down. For now, the Major Spirit was playing a game of tag with the Resolute while the remaining Titans and Titan Monitors had stationed themselves with her Kindraa’s JumpShips or were helping with aerial support.
The Stone Spirit DropShips, meanwhile had managed to land close to the factory. Closer than comfortable, if she were to be honest with herself right now. Already, Kindraa Faraday-Tanaga’s abundant air support was making havoc for the Spirits, and, soon, the artillery. Unfortunately, with roughly three clusters of ground forces available to them, Cassandra knew it would be a tough battle ahead. Three battle tested clusters versus barely two clusters. Fortunately, her unit and the Nineteenth were classed as elite unites and judging by the way their aerospace forces fought and the Mechs identified, Cassandra hazard to guess she was fighting a mostly green to regular force, with possibly a veteran trinary or two thrown in. Still, this will be a fight for the ages, she thought, for quantity held a quality all to itself.
And here they come, she thought to herself, as the two lone Fortress-class DropShips she had on the ground opened up. Roughly fifteen hundred meters away, she thought. Her radio came to life. “Star Colonel, Defender Wing is in position. Over.”
He’s anxious, she thought. Lovely. “Aff,” she answered the Fin instead, trying to calm the man. “Keep to the plan, Commander Takala.” Her plan was simple. While the Nineteenth, with the BattleMechs from the Fin’s Defender Wing, would hold the line at all cost, with the air support and artillery fire hopefully inflict enough damage to fight them off, her supernova would create a distraction, hopefully leading enough away and buying time for the factory to finally be evacuated. Defeating them was very unlikely at this point until the Resolute was on station and that could was not possible at this moment. They only needed another hour before the factory and the civilians would be evacuated onto the DropShips and be able to evacuate off the planet.
Thousand meters away now. All around her, Mechs with long rang weaponry opened fire; the Stone Spirits doing the same. As the battle progressed and the Stone Spirits neared, she could see just how dilapidated some of the Spirits equipment was. Half she considered barely fit for combat duties. The other half however would have pit the Stone Spirits on par with any front-line Clan OmniMechs. She guessed the barely functional wrecks were piloted by the older warriors and that the Stone Spirits despite being cast out of Clan society were throwing their older warriors at their enemies as cannon fodder in traditional Clan form. The artillery barrage was causing some telling damage on these units cutting them away quickly this had two effects first it allowed her people to target the real threats... second it opened her own people to those same units. Immediately that was shown as an Adder off to her side was torn to pieces by an enemy Shadow Cat's Gauss Rifle she watched her pilot eject as the light OmniMech disintegrated but it was hardly a nice image. Immediately she returned fire she saw several others join her in their desperate defence cutting the Shadow Cat down in a hail of fire. The medium OmniMech fell to the ground and did not get back up.
Finally, the artillery fire left off, signaling the Spirits finally reached the eight hundred meter mark. The dezgra Spirits and her forces soon were engaged in fierce combat with one another the Stone Spirits not showing they cared engaging in physical attacks with her own units. Now was the time, she decided. Clicking on her radio to all frequencies, she spoke. “This is Kindraa Leader Cassandra Faraday to dezgra mudbloods. Are there any true warriors amongst you? I ask, for I only see surats trying to behave like freebirth babies on their first day of training.” Near-instantly, heavy fire rained on her position. I got their attention, she thought, as she led her trinary of mechs away from the fighting into the poisoned grasslands, nearly two full clusters of angry Stone Spirits behind her and her warriors.
“Commander Takala. Change of plans. Bring your Defender Wing along my flanks. We will encircle those that did not follow the Kindraa Leader. Do it now,” she heard Brian Tanaga ordered the Fin over the radio. Slowly, she and her trinary led the roughly two clusters of Stone Spirits away from the main battle, all the while humiliating the Spirits over the radio, keeping just out of firing range for the most part. She and her trinary did well until she noticed the Stone Spirits stop and start to turn around realizing their mistake.
This is it, she thought. “Well you look at that. The mudbloods are running away like scolded children to their mother’s teat. Beth, I told you they were babies,” she chuckled through the radio, knowing full well she was on their radio channel.
“Aff. Though from here, it looks like they just shit themselves. Whew! They stink. Yup they are most definitely the rugrat patrol. Aww. Looks like they need a bath. Pity they rather return to mommy then play in the water, quiaff?” On any other day, she would have berated Beth and kicked her down to help with the Technicians for a week or two for her words just now. Today though, she picked Beth specifically for just being herself. And by the sudden turning around of the enemy, it worked.
“Kindraa Leader, permission to charge and teach these surat babies how to be proper Clan warriors,” this came from Star Commander Jeffrey. Major ouch to their psyches, she thought with a feral smile. Her entire trinary seemed to be full of themselves and for once, she let them.
“That’s it you damn ****** monkeys! I, Star Colonel Tanya Furey of the Eighth Stone Guards declare a Trial of Grievance for your words today, Kindraa Leader. Will you stay and fight as a PROPER warrior would? Or run like annoying little children like you have been for the last forty minutes,” the voice of an exacerbated and angry old woman called out over the radio. Furey was a Jaguar Bloodname, the Jaguars had been dead for decades Cassandra knew that the Stone Rhinos had many Smoke Jaguars in their number, before that Clan's destruction, but she wondered just how old was this warrior?
Cassandra Faraday allowed herself a feral smile. “I guess I am an annoying little child compared to you, am I not? Grandma?” Instantly, her trinary mates started laughing over the radio and the old woman, whose pride had been battered for nearly an hour, cursed her. As the laughing died down, she called out into her radio. “Fine Grandma. This young girl will teach an old bitch like you some new tricks. Shall we dance?”
“Seyla,” cried out the furious old warrior and soon thereafter a Predator, most likely a gift once from her own kindraa from a time long passed by, separated itself from the crowd of Stone Spirit mechs looking at the Mech Cassandra swallowed heavily despite everything they had been through today and in the battles before the heavy Predator looked in excellent condition its two Autocannons looking very deadly. “We fight here. Now. With no interference. And no running.”
Now it was her turn to accept and so she did. “Agreed. Seyla.” As she said the last, a smirk came across her face, and so she added mischievously, “Grandma” her only hope today would be to keep the woman angry, and Jaguars were always angry.
As the trial of grievance started, her radio crackled, startling her. “Zeta-two here. Factory is secured and all civvies on-board and accounted for, both ours and the Fins.”
“Copy that,” she answered to the star captain commanding the DropShips as her BattleMech was hammered by autocannon rounds from the Predator. Thinking for a second, she then spoke to him. “Get those DropShips in the air now.” Without bothering to hear him confirm her orders, she switched to the frequency of her own DropShips. “Nineteenth Striker and Defender Wing, pull out now! I say again! Get the hell off this rock as fast as you can!” She called out before her Mech was hit again this time by the Predator's lasers she returned fire seeing her weapons causing heavy damage to the Stone Spirit Mech's left hand side.
Before either Star Colonel Brian Tanaga or Commander Takala could confirm her last order, the Predator’s returned fire again its main weapons reloaded autocannon fire slammed into her Summoner and smoke filled her cockpit. As she fought to control her battered Mech, maybe she had gotten this warrior too angry, she felt pain in her abdomen. Looking down for a brief second, she could see blood flowing and her screen showing she had taken the round directly to her cockpit, shredding it and key electronic systems her targeting system was already showing the effects cutting out intermittently. Twisting her Mech's cockpit she fired as her Mech moved she was beyond lucky to not be dead yet, though she doubted she would live beyond this battle, what with the amount of blood she saw and the feeling of blood she felt trickling into her mouth.
The Predator warrior's next shots thankfully missed targeting the Stone Spirit Predator in response, she fired all her weapons in an alpha strike. Surprisingly, the second line heavy battlemech turned at the last second, allowing its barely damaged right hand side to soak nearly all the damage with minimal damage to any other system. Crap, she thought to herself, as the lighter battlemech turned to once again face her with its weapons. It's two autocannons leveled at her.
Just as quickly, she activating her Mech’s jump jets, raising the heat to beyond the safety limits. She was unlucky, though, for again even in the air her Mech came under the enemy’s autocannon fire, this time tearing off the left leg of her Mech, sending her tumbling to the ground when she landed.
The landing made her spit out black blood. Still, she battled as best she could against her own Mech, willing it to get up, even as her body started to shut down due to her injuries. Just as she forced her battered Summoner up in a sitting position, only to be hit again, this time her humanoid OmniMech was slammed in the "mid-rift" area knocking the Mech backwards as her armour was cored by the impacts.
Her radio crackled to life then, allowing her to hear her trinary mates try to fight and defend her breaking the Circle of Equals, what had she said "any and all tactics" she thought. Had her people begun down a path that would eventually end what they were? What they had been created for? She didn't know, but she did know that she would not see it, her star mates actions had dishonoured themselves but that did not last long as the Stone Spirits likewise broke the Circle in response cutting down her entire Trinary in a hellish display of concentrated fire. As blood started pouring from her mouth, a new voice sounded through the radio. “Kindraa Leader, the Nineteenth and the Fins Defender Wing are on our DropShips and heading to your position. Over.” Star Colonel Brian Tanaga announced.
Switching to the general frequency used by her Kindraa, she forced herself to speak through the pain using the last of her energy. “Neg Star Colonel, my trinary is dead and I soon will be joining them. Tell Star Colonel,” she paused, spitting out blood from her mouth. “Tell Jerold Danforth, I leave the kindraa in his hands, will you?”
“Kindraa Leader, repeat the last,” came the hesitant voice of the younger Star Colonel.
“You heard me. And tell him and the others. We need the collection. And they need us,” she managed to whisper the last at last succumbing to her injuries.
Minutes ticked by, slowly, until finally Brian Tanaga was brought to his senses. “Acknowledged,” Star Colonel managed to get out. Switching to all frequencies, he spoke. “All friendly forces, I am assuming command until I am relieved by Star Commodore Malcolm Lynn. Star Commander Su, get us to the Resolute as quickly as possible. Over,” he bit out. Switching frequencies to the one the Stone Spirits used, he spoke determinedly and angrily. “Clan Stone Spirit. You have won a great victory today and snatched our noble leader away from us. Take heart and celebrate, for the next time. Next time will be your deaths.”
Two days later, the JumpShips of Kindraa Faraday-Tanaga, escorted by the Resolute, jumped from the system, abandoning the dead world to the Spirits.
