CS3056-49

=Chapter 49= 
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==Clover Spear - The Story of the '56 War==
Prologue, Book 2, The Hammer Falls
“As the War of ’56 headed to its bloody conclusion on the battlefields of Sian and Yuris, there were unnoticed sideshows by other neighbors of the Capellan Confederation, who sought to get their own piece of the pie in the chaos of the collapse. While the moves by Andurien was expected by most observers, the move by the Taurian Concordat to retake Rollis was seen as a most unusual move, what with the huge dollops of anti-Fedcom propaganda that had pervaded Concordat society in the years before Jeffrey Calderon…”
Anton Riksdar, “Death Rattle of the Confederation”, Ueda Press, 3075
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"Some say I should have become a hero of the Confederation and resisted the Taurian “invasion”. Bull. What the hell was I going to do? We hadn’t gotten a shipment of beans, bullets, or spare parts since the Fedcom had counterattacked on Sarna. With Sian itself under threat, and us being on the ass end of the Periphery border? We were told to “defend Rollis against all enemies and fight to the last Capellan.” So, I did. But when the Taurians showed up? I had mostly green kids who barely knew which end of the PPC was dangerous, and had already been used to diffuse three near-riots over a lack of food and water. I’d had to hang four warriors for taking food from a family at gunpoint. My command was disintegrating, and the militia wasn’t looking much better. If there was another riot, I couldn’t count on them. And we didn’t have enough dropships to retreat off-world with our gear. And we had no jumpships. They’d left back in June. We’d been left to die at the hands of the Fedcom. And we were convinced they were coming, with an eye towards revenge for what happened on Wei all those years ago.
"I have to say, when the Taurians showed up with that ‘multi-national force’ and with a couple of jumpships with food and medical supplies? I didn’t see the point of resisting? Why? We had people dying of starvation right outside the front gate of the cantonment. I wasn’t going to defend the right of Capellan citizens to starve to death. I made a decision I have had no cause to regret…”
Interview of Colonel Andrea Sungformer commanding officer of Sung’s Cuirassiersas featured in “Rollis: The Story of a Humanitarian Invasion”by Alan Jerkan, Bull Horns Press, Taurus, 3059
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===Unexpected Guests===
Planetary Command Bunker
20km SSW of New Harmon
Rollis
Capellan Confederation
August 8th, 3057
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Colonel Andrea Shang was tired. Tired and hungry. She looked less the image of a confident military officer, and more the image of a cave troll. Her almond colored eyes were dull with hunger, along with most of her command. The entire planet had been on half-rations for at least a month. Water was also at a premium, and it was a blessing they’d all gone nose-blind. The stench of fear and unwashed uniforms was overwhelming. And we’d had three near riots in Freeport. People want food, people want to leave. But there’s no Jumpships to carry them anywhere. The Chancellor ordered them all out last month, along with what was left of the food, and very little if anything grows here. You can’t eat the wood that grows here. I got children dying of hunger within sight of my troops and there is blessed little I can do about it. 
She shook her head and looked at the assembled members of the command staff, as well as the staff of the bunker. They were mostly impossibly young, having been seconded from the militia. Some so young, and so malnourished, their uniforms were baggy and ill-fitting. Sunken eyes and boney fingers moved at a slow pace over the various map displays and radio equipment. Conversation was muted, and she turned her gaze to Commander Zhao, he was the commander of the militia. He was in deep conversation with Yang Fon, the local Mask chief. Neither of them seemed to have the energy to shout the usual defiant slogans about “death to the Davions” or “we will remain Capellan” which she’d seen spray-painted all-over buildings in New Harmon.
I guess a lack of food is tempering everyone’s loyalty to the state these days. Yesterday was terrible. She’d had to order a lance of ‘Mechs to break up a riot at the only hospital on planet. Power was also an issue, as the only fusion plant on world was facing shutdown due to a lack of spare parts and reaction mass. I had to order the hospital to shut down power to the ICU, and…the NICU, and declared martial law in the same breath. How many did I murder then? And just for the crime of “not enough state resources” left to care for them? In the end, is this the loving embrace of the state that we always would hear about?
She then looked at the Deep Space Radar display, a mass of dots with telemetry readings glowed an ugly red that was moving ever closer to the planet by the hour. Trajectory has them grounding at Freeport, which was an hour away from the bunker, bit longer to New Harmon itself. But the truth was, she didn’t think she could do more than fight one good engagement before her regiment, Sung’s Cuirassiers collapsed due to a lack of food, ammunition, spare parts, and plain demoralization. And how much of a sweat are the Davions going to break? And will they accept my surrender when I am forced to give it? Our regiment has a bit of a history with them. A very recent history. 
She turned towards her executive officer, Commander Zhao Jen-Ling. He was a new graduate of the command course at SAMD. He was a solid and loyal Capellan soldier, but like most of them, exhaustion, lack of food, and depression was taking their toll. He shook his head, and said nothing. But his eyes said it all. No chance. No chance at all. A survey of the room found he was not alone. Noone would utter it, not with the Mask adviser standing right there. But all of their eyes, including, surprisingly, his, said the same thing: We can’t win, don’t make us fight a battle that will do little but kill more of our own people.
Andrea sighed. She turned towards the commo tech, a young man with mixed Asian and Caucasian features who’s lenses on his glasses took up half of his face.
“Beng, get in touch with the Davions, tell them we’re asking for terms.”
A series of gasps escaped everyone in the room. All eyes went towards the Mask adviser, Mark Tsentov. He’d been on Rollis for years, having been exiled here for indiscretions with the daughter of the head of his work section. He’d married that daughter after, and they’d built a life on Rollis. Three children, two of them died in service of the state, and one a bureaucrat on Sian.
Tsentov had no desire to bring war, especially a losing one, to Rollis. Pirates were one thing, but this? He shrugged, “If you all think I will tell you to seek a good death on the spears of the Davions for the good of the state? No. I am not going to be stupid and pig-headed enough to say that. We have 14-year olds in the militia, who are equipped with spears, because we don’t have enough ammunition to properly equip them. Most of the populace is eating half a liter of watery soup a day. We have rickets, pellagra, and a host of other ailments killing our people. We may yield to the Davions without a shot, but at least, Colonel Sung, we will save our people. The Davions are not pirates. They will feed them. I order you, in the name of the state, make contact and seek honorable terms.”
Beng crossed the room with a tactical radio headset in hand. He handed it to Sung, tears in his eyes. “Here you are, ma'am.”
Sung nodded. She cleared her throat and pushed the talk button. “To the inbound dropships currently entering our atmosphere. I am Colonel Andrea Sung of Sung’s Cuirassiers of the Capellan Confederation Armed Forces. I am the senior officer in command of the defenses of Rollis and have authority over all CCAF forces currently stationed here. I am asking for terms. Please, my people are starving, sick, and dying. I will not fight their saviors, even if they are Davions. We will surrender with only one condition: Please save our people.”
She released the push to talk button and listened to the static crackle for a few seconds before the beep of a radio circuit being opened rang through the quiet command center. The voice on the radio was male, calm, strong and clear. It was strangely reassuring, given the circumstances. “Colonel Sung, my name is Hallaran. Comptroller James Hallaran, Taurian Defense Force. I have the pleasure of commanding Task Force Secure Hope, and my orders are to lead a humanitarian rescue of Hollis, and facilitate its recovery pending a plebiscite of its people on whether it wishes to remain with the Confederation, or return to the loving arms of the Concordat. We do not require your surrender, Colonel. We do ask for your cooperation.”
Sung looked at the headset in shock. Eyes had goggled around the room and at least one person whispered audibly. “This is either pirates, or a really bad joke.”
Sung pushed the talk button. “Comptroller, you did say Taurian, right?”
There was a chuckle over the frequency, and she could hear other laughter in the background over the open mike. “Well, I am, as is the two battalions of Concordat Commandos with me. But we have more than a few of us. A battalion from the 2nd Canopan Light Horse, and a couple companies of Aurgian mercenaries headed up by Queen Kamea’s son. But most of us are doctors, relief workers, farmers, and just about anyone who wanted to come and help, Colonel. Will you let us land and help you?”
Sung looked around the room, it was as if a weight had been lifted from her chest. One of the junior aides hissed “Ma’am. Can we really trust them? It’s a Davion trick!”
“No, it isn’t, Cheblinsky. The Davions needn’t have bothered with such subterfuge. Why lie? They know we’ll know soon enough. No, this is a damn godsend. We don’t have to fight a battle we cannot win. And we save our people.”
She turned again to the mic. “Comptroller, please ground your battalion at Freeport. We’ll send a small delegation to meet you there, including myself. I’ll be ordering all other units to remain in place.”
“I understand, Colonel. I’ll just bring my own command company in that case. No sense in spooking the hell out of everyone? ‘Mechs will remain on my dropship. My captain tells me we will ground in 35 minutes.”
“Thank You, Comptroller. I will meet you there in 45 minutes then.”
“Rodger that, Colonel. Hallaran out.”
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45 Minutes Later
The dust kicked up by the hover jeep was light today, as a sandstorm had just blown through last night. Still, it was enough to force everyone to wear goggles in the open-topped vehicles, lest they get their eyes literally scratched out of their heads. A small gaggle came into view, with three flags standing in front of them. Sung could make out the standards, Aurigan, Canopean, and Taurian. They were limp in against their standards, but still, the colors of their flags made them unmistakable. And the uniforms are all wrong for Fedrats, or their Steiner lackeys.
The jeep came to a halt with a spray of sand, and as the turbine wound down, Sung practically leapt from the vehicle, her staff in tow. The central figure, wrapped in a shermagh, removed the lower half of it to reveal a craggy, but smiling face. “Colonel Sung? Good day to do the right thing, no?”
Sung nodded and smiled. “Yes Comptroller, it is. My people are starving. And I don’t think we have time for pleasantries.”
Hallaran nodded. “So, do you have any ground rules for us, Colonel?”
Sung laughed. “No, Welcome to Rollis. It seems you are our liberators. But I would recommend you set up shop first in New Harmon, the transportation network here is pretty awful except during trading festivals. And, we do have a problem with bandits raiding convoys around here.”
Hallaran smiled cooly “We can handle the bandits if you can keep a lid on your own people?”
Sung nodded. “I think, Comptroller, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
Hallaran’s smile went wide “And we like the same movies too. Yes, Colonel, we’re going to get along just fine.” He turned to an aide. “Get them down, Lenny. Let’s get to doing what we came here to do.”
The Taurian staff officer nodded and turned to an RTO, who began to read out rapid fire instructions to the ships still orbiting above.
“So, Comptroller. I happen to have been saving a bottle of fine 3000 Sian Whiskey for a special occasion. This I think qualifies?”
Hallaran nodded, “It does, and I am damn thirsty. Tell me it’s Xiao Tung?”''
Sung nodded with a smile of her own.
After an aide quickly produced a pair of paper cups, Sung gingerly poured the amber liquid, which was rich and played joyfully with the light.
“Colonel, shall we drink to Rollis. Her recovery and her future?”
Sung nodded, and they both knocked back their shots quickly. “Comptroller, I have to know one thing. Why?”
“Colonel, simple. The Confederation is falling apart. Who knows if or when it will reform? And what form it will take. Rollis, long ago, was once ours. Hasn’t been for a long time, but we couldn’t sit by and do nothing anymore. Not and call ourselves human beings. So, we put out the call. And we were a little surprised by who showed up.”
“We are too, Comptroller. But it’s bought my people their lives. And for that, Rollis, and my Cuirassiers will be forever grateful.”
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While the buildup of Andurien troops along the Capellan border had been going on since May, no one expected the size of the offensive by the Anduriens into the dying Confederation. It was a surprise they had any armed forces at all to speak of after their abortive rebellion of 20-odd years before. The reaction to the move was, on the whole, mixed, with the Capellans protesting to the League, who shrugged and said they couldn’t reign them in, Home Defense Act and all. The FedCom’s response could be summed up as “Ok, but Sian is ours and stay the hell out of our way.” The rest of the Inner Sphere simply reacted with a collective shrug. Most other nations had their own troubles at the moment…”,Whoops! An Irreverent View of the Politics of the War of ’56by Dr. Anton Drake, Federated Academic Press, New Avalon, 3060
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We told him it would happen! Why would he be shocked? I mean, he [Sun-Tzu] reads a damn holomap, right? (laughs manically) He really didn’t read the report we sent him. Not a surprise. He’s gone mad, you know. (subject screams in pain). WHAT! Like I am going to deny it now? I am a dead man. I am not walking out of here alive. No one does! So, kill me. Kill me and spare me the sight of the Fedrats and Andurien fighting over the dead husk of Sian! 
Taken from the Interrogation transcript of former Sub-Commander Tzhao Foon, FWL Desk, Maskirovka Analysis Section. August 19th, 3057.Sub-Commander Foon was interrogated for nineteen hours in the infamous “Iron Jade” Prison Complex in the Forbidden City on Sian after his arrest and was executed for treason three days later.The partial transcript, found damaged by fire, was found in the ruins of the prison on September 19th, 3057 by FedCom troops.
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===Free Worlds League Invasion of the Confederation===
====Operation Keravnos - Wave 1====
Wave 1 (August-September 3057):
Betelgeuse
Attacking Forces: 1st Defenders of Andurien Regiment (Green skilled Medium-weight ‘Mech regiment plus a brigade of combined arms troops), Burrow’s Crashing Thunder Regiment, and one battalion of three company sized mercenary units organized as 1st Provisional Battalion.
Defending Forces: 2 Battalions of Warrior House Kamata (1 Green and 1 Veteran skilled Battalion), Betelgeuse Home Guard (3 combined arms regiments)
Results: The Capellan defenders fought with the strength of men possessed. House Kamata offered no quarter and asked for none, fighting to the last in a swirling mobile battle not far from the Andurien LZs (Landing Zones). After eighteen hours of fighting, neither battalion of House Kamata was left, but they had dealt 40% casualties to the 1st Defenders of Andurien, and it had taken Burrow’s Crashing Thunder Regiment intervening to save the Defenders from complete collapse. Once House Kamata had been destroyed, the Home Guard surrendered the next day.
Sigma Mare
Attackers: 2nd Defenders of Andurien (Regular Medium weight ‘Mech regiment, and a combined arms brigade), St. Cyr Heavy Assault Regiment, Lone Star Regiment
Defenders: Sigma Mare Home Guard
Results: The defenders of Sigma Mare, cut off from any help, and not having had orders from Sian in months, surrendered after a short fight at the Andurien LZs.
Shiba
Attackers: 3rd Defenders of Andurien (Veteran warriors, Heavy weight ‘Mech regiment, and a combined arms brigade), Contessa’s Killers (Veteran Assault ‘Mech Battalion)
Defenders: Shiba Home Guard
Results: The defenders of Shiba tried to fight a mobile campaign, but they could not compete with the mobility of the 3rd who often pinned the Home Guard in place to be shattered by the Killers. Within a week, the Shiba Home Guard surrendered.
Niomede
Attackers: 4th Defenders of Andurien (Green skilled, Light-weight ‘Mech regiment, and a combined arms brigade).
Defenders: Niomede Home Guard
Results: The Niomede Home Guard made one disastrous attempt to hold the 4th short of the planetary capitol, facing them at the all-important crossing of the Shenpo river at Tivington. The defense of the bridge was successful for a week, until a battalion of Andurien hover tanks, backed by light mechs walking across the bottom, forced a crossing some six km downstream and flanked the Home Guard, destroying them in a two-day encirclement battle. Barely three battalions from the brigade strength home guard survived to surrender.
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<<“THIS IS GREYJOY ACTUAL TO ALL CALLSIGNS. LAND THE LANDING FORCE AS PER OPTION BRAVO. RPT, LAND THE LANDING FORCE AS PER OPTION BRAVO. GOOD LUCK AND GOD SPEED.“>> 
Sent from Command Jumpship “FCN Journe’s Journey” to all allied callsigns in Sian space, August 19th, 3057
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