TBC17

==Chapter 17 - The Broken Commonwealth==
Lyran-Jade Falcon War Report
April - May, 3146
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Patrol 3, Squadron 12, Kowloon Coast Guard:
May: 2,573,931 tons of Jade Falcon merchant shipping destroyed.
June: 1,110,000 tons of Jade Falcon Merchant Shipping destroyed.
July: 1,652,181 tons of Jade Falcon Merchant Shipping destroyed.
August: 500,718 tons of Jade Falcon Merchant Shipping destroyed by August 15.
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May: 153,090 tons of Sea Fox vessels destroyed in the Falcon territory
June: 22,151 tons of Sea Fox shipping destroyed
July: 10,502 tons of Sea Fox Shipping destroyed
August: by August 15, 3146, the monthly total of Sea Fox merchant shipping encountered: zero tons.
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May: 53,150 tons of Hell's Horses shipping destroyed
June: 1,000,400 tons of Hell's Horses Shipping engaged and destroyed
July: 500,740 tons of Hell's Horses shipping destroyed
August 15: 235,193 tons of Hell's Horses shipping destroyed.
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August 15: Coast Guard Patrol, 12th Squadron, 3rd Patrol withdraws from the coreward side of the Jade Falcon front line to be replaced by Patrol 1, 13th Squadron.
The Coast Guard is acting the Fox in a henhouse behind the Falcon front lines, the sum total damage isn't really obvious-the actual shipping losses are a minority percentage of military logistical traffic, but the speed and ease of the slaughter, averaging between 1 and 7 ships per week from May through August, has had knock-on impacts.  Clan Sea Fox is refusing to provide delivery services, citing the behavior of the Mongols as a provocation and insisting on their neutrality to both Inner Sphere, and fellow Clan powers.  Clan Hell's Horses briefly have doubled down on their trade ties to the Falcons, but with the losses incurred, even their Clan Council is debating severing further ties and fortifying until their fleets can be brought up to speed to counter the threat posed by fast commerce raiders who don't linger to be hunted down by superior forces.
Clan Jade Falcon's naval arm has scored not a single kill on Coast Guard vessels since the brief. Relatively 'fair' fight at Alyina, but the attacks have slowed and in some cases crippled. The rearmament and reinforcement of front line Galaxies, as munitions, replacements, personnel and even food logistics have had to be rescheduled and reshuffled to replace both what has been lost, and what might potentially be lost.
On August 15, the first rocks fall, as nine-meter long needles of depleted uranium jacketed in tungsten-nickel alloy wrapped in absorbent coatings begin arriving at targets they were sent toward in June and July.
Everything in space is about timing, spatial navigation is about timing and speed.  Get an object up to a set velocity, and let it coast, the further it accelerates, the higher the velocity.  At a given angle, a bullet can travel interstellar distances.
These aren't going that far.
They are aimed at specific points.  Known points.  Industrial factories, fortifications, Brian fortresses and military bases.  Nobody was looking when they were released.  More is the pity, as the factories that feed the Ordun on a dozen worlds experience a cataclysm unseen since the First Succession War.
Malvina Hazen wanted to dabble in total warfare.  With the Clan's aerospace stretched to the limits trying to deal with commerce raiders and the fact you can't just shove a farmer in a fighter's cockpit and expect him to fly the way you can shove that farmer in a tank and use them for cannon fodder?  Even with adequate warning it wouldn't be enough.
The penetrators hit planets and stations,  The ones aimed at stations are hollow, to better transfer energy to their targets in the same way a hollow point bullet transfers energy to flesh instead of over penetrating.
The ones aimed at ground bases are true penetrators-moving at Relativistic speeds. When they hit, and timed and angled as they are, (accounting for orbit, rotational period, angle of approach) they're spending the minimum amount of time interacting with the planetary magnetic fields and atmospheres-taking the shortest route through atmosphere to reach the crust.
Bam, Bam, Bam, Eruption.  Three to six hits, bedrock cracks down to mantle, magma erupts with vengeful force.
A dozen worlds experience this simultaneously on August 15th.
Even more damage occurs as 'knock on' effects, from aftershocks and from collateral damage as vents are poked into planetary crust material, effectively overwhelming facilities designed to withstand dedicated naval orbital bombardment.
Still, the Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces don't move from their garrisons. Instead, they dig in deeper, and continue to build up strength.
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