A Couple of YELLOW BIRD Wave One excerpts:
Tannil
Very few Marshall’s in the AFFS hate the Draconis combine more than Marshal Adderly Verner, commander of the 17th Avalon Hussars. A native of Mallory’s World, her parents were killed on one of the numerous Kuritan raids on planet while she was still a little girl. Sent to live with relatives on David, they were killed a few years later in a Kuritan backed terrorist bombing during a soccer event she was playing in. An Emancipated Minor at 16, she graduated secondary school and was at college on David, where she met Josh Holcomb and fell in love. Holcomb was also a member of the David Militia, and when the 3rd Proserpina Hussars raided the planet he was killed when his Manticore tank was destroyed. Enough was enough for Adderly, and the day after she buried her boyfriends remains she walked into the AFFS recruitment office and began a curious career that always saw her on the right edge of completely losing control when fighting the Kuritan’s. While not a gifted mechwarrior, she is a solid pilot and capable gunner, and possesses a quick military mind, until she saw a Kuritan mech on the battlefield and it was “Katie bar the door”. Her Victor has been rebuilt so many times there are few, if any, original parts on it. As her climb through the ranks reached higher, her attitude did not soften, but became more focused, her rage against the DCMS a little bit more controlled. Three years ago, after a successful stint as executive officer of the 3rd Crucis Lancers she was promoted to command the 17th Avalon Hussars.
It was a match made in heaven. The 17th is famed for its ability to deploy and attack while under fire, and its posting on the Draconis Border has given it plenty of opportunities to display that skill. The sight of Marshall Verner’s Victor, with it’s light grey paint scheme and dragon skull insignia, has become renowned in the March.
Tannil was once a Federated Suns Border world, taken during the First Succession War in Coordinator Jinjiro Kurita’s first offensive. It had always been a goal of the Davion’s to retake the planets lost in the first waves, and although several raids and skirmishes had occurred over the centuries, it wasn’t until YELLOW BIRD that a concerted effort was made on the part of the AFFS. While politically Tannil was a goal, from a military point of view the vast warehouse complex’s on the planet were also a priority.
Defending the planet was the 2nd Arkab Legion, a veteran mech unit new to the planet but were fairly well equipped and supplied for a long campaign. The 41st Avalon Hussars landed on Tannils Southern continent, where they faced the Legions 3rd Battalion and several conventional regiments. The Legion attempted a fighting withdrawal, trying to pull back and meet up with the rest of it’s unit, but Marshall Graham used his aerospace assets effectively, herding the Battalion away from it’s planned crossing point. 3rd Battalion attempted to move through the Koenga Valleys, but were cut off when the LAM company of the 41st flew ahead and established a blocking position. Unable to fight their way out, the remaining 2 companies of the 3rd Battalion surrendered after a weeks worth of fighting.
The 17th had a harder time bringing the other two Battalions to battle. The coastals regions of the planets northern continent were gripped by a series of monsoons, and rather than risk her unit being spread out piecemeal and vulnerable Marshall Verner dropped en mass in the center of the continent and march to the coastal region. The remaining two battalions were pinned against Tannil’s turbulent seas, but they made a fight of it, striking and retreating in a series of rearguard actions. On one occasion, a company of mechs broke through the 17th lines, and in conjunction with a Kuritan Infantry Regiment that had been lying in wait, hit the 17ths Headquarters unit during a downpour. The fighting was bloody and protracted, the Kuritan units were eventually killed or driven off, but not before they had killed the 17ths executive officer. Marshall Verners Victor had been struck in the head by an autocannon round, and she was knocked unconscious. The Marshall recovered a few days later, and the march towards the coast began again, but even her closest friends in the nit agreed something was just not right.
The remaining units of the Arkab Legion had retreated to Kennerly, Tannil’s capital city, but could not lift off due to the monsoons. While not a heavily fortified city, Kennerly could withstand the 17th until the monsoons stopped and lift off. Both units began preparations for a siege, but on September 10th, Marshall Verner left the lines of the 17th and marched to the city gates, and challenged any Kuritan mechwarrior to a duel for control of the planet. The Legions commanding officer, General Cho Sok, marched his Grasshopper out to to meet the Marshall in battle, but was unnerved by a psychological trick Verner used on him. The dual did not last long, an autocannon shot from Verner early on badly damaged the Grasshoppers leg, then General Sok lost control of his mech on the wet muddy ground and fell, leaving his mech open to a devastating volley of fire from Verner. Badly wounded, Sok surrendered his unit and the city, but died before he could commit seppuku.
The remaining legion warriors surrendered, and when the monsoons cleared ten days later Marshall Verner surprised everyone by allowing the remaining Kuritan Mechwarriors to leave with their mechs, almost five companies worth.
____________________________________________________________________________________
The Yellow Bird of Davion
It was no coincidence that the AFFS named it’s offensive against the Combine after the tiny creature that the Dragon fears the most, it was indeed a psychological operation, but Marshall Adderly Verner of the 17th Avalon took this image one step further on Tannil. Marshall Verner’s Victor is a well known mech on the Draconis March, for it sports an image of a dragon skull on it, and the Marshall challenged any Kuritan mechwarrior to a duel for control of the city and planet. When responding to the challenge, Brigadier General Cho Sok marched out and recited his heritage, as was proper custom. Marshall Adderly responded by dropping her mechs hand, which had been covering her torso, and reciting her lineage.
Flying above the stylized Dragon skull was a Yellow Bird, but somehow it had been drawn in such a way as to appear defiant, righteous, and or malevolent according to Kuritans who saw it. When finished reciting her lineage, Marshall Adderly recited hers, uttered her now famous haiku:
I, the Yellow Bird
Come to give the Dragon his
Honorable Death
The duel made the vids, as did the haiku, and the image began proliferating throughout the ranks, unauthorized but not discouraged by the AFFS High Command. By YELLOW BIRDS third wave, every Davion unit had a stylized image of a Yellow Bird of its own somewhere on it.
Marshall Verner has never reveled what led her to doing such a thing, and her doctors at SINA have refused any interview requests on her behalf.
Terrance Woodley, excerpted from a “Concise History of the Fourth Succession War, Volume 1”
Davout73
