FSRB Chpt 196

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 196==
 Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter
----
March 3071Off Script
-----
===ComStar-Blakist War===
====The Unexpected Invasion====
March began with the AFFS being caught on the back foot when suddenly the ComGuards with whom they were coordinating their planned attacks upon the WOB Protectorate suddenly launched a full scale assault on the Protectorate with no warning and far in advance of the agreed schedules. At the time these orders were passed to the reorganized 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, & 5th ComGuard Armies (a 6th Army was in existence, but was assigned to rear area security, training formations and units which were undergoing rebuilding) under the direction of their Precentor Martial, but there were some concerns raised even at the time that these orders did not seen in keeping with his last known instructions. Indeed these concerns were so grave that it took a personal message from the Interim-Primus to the commanding officers of the 2nd & 4th Armies to launch their attacks and the 5th Army maintained it's position within the Dieron PDZ and did not join in the initial attacks. Subsequent investigations would reveal that the orders to attack were indeed falsified and sent out via HPG from the CSV Restitution without the Precentor Martial's orders.
====AFFS Mobilizes====
For the AFFS the sudden surge of their allies into the Protectorate caught them totally by surprise. Initial instincts to throw themselves forward alongside their allies to support the attack were swiftly dismissed by calmer heads who pointed out that the AFFS was not in a position to launch a general attack at this time and wouldn't be until late April at the earliest and potentially May. Units were still preparing and many of the warships which were slated to take part in the attack were still under refit. Worse, many of the troops and fighter pilots who had been assigned to the various AFFS formations had yet to fully integrate with their new commands. Launching the attack in this uncoordinated and haphazard manner would cost the AFFS avoidable casualties.
----
====Unexpected strong defenses====
This cautionary stance was proven well founded, when the ComGuard's attacks on New Earth and Epsilon Eridani ran into heavy enemy resistance and suffered massive casualties right from the start. The ComGuard's 1st Army attacking into the face of unknown enemy drone forces suffered almost 40% casualties before they even made planet fall and were then under constant attack by heavy enemy forces on the ground. Only the support of their orbiting warships allowed them to maintain their landing zones. Things were not quite as bad on Epsilon Eridani but by the end of March after heavy fighting the ComGuard's 4th Army had seen two of it's six divisions reduced to combat ineffectiveness. The 2nd & 3rd Armies, while facing hard fighting on Carver V and Bryant did not suffer the same level of losses and were making good progress, although their casualty ratio's were still far in advance of expectations. The ComGuard's assaults which had been meant to take place with full AFFS support had been expressly targeted on some of the most heavily defended worlds within the Protectorate and as such the attackers were now facing major opposition.
----
====AFFS Supportive Attacks====
The AFFS' refusal to throw caution to the wind however didn't mean that it stood idle. With the support of the 5th Army (and the furious Precentor Martial Focht when he managed to re-exert control on the 19th March. As soon as he jumped out of the Lone Star System having been informed via a Magellan class JumpShip-courier about the questionable orders) the AFFS did what it could to provide limited support to the embattled ComGuard forces, prioritizing resupply the forces in combat and providing a constant stream of new equipment to replace losses. Often having to provide heavy escorting forces for these supply convoys. In the case of the convoys heading for New Earth Field Marshal Sortek on Hesperus dispatched the 1st & 4th Carrier Battle Groups along with the 3rd Destroyer Squadron to escort these convoys and provide air support for the 1st ComGuards Army.
----
====Battles for Caphi and Gramham IV====
The AFFS also launched two limited attacks of it's own on the 21st of March (far ahead of their proposed schedule) but with the intent of drawing off WOB forces or at least pinning them in place to avoid them moving against the struggling 1st and 4th ComGuards Armies. These operations were against the worlds of Caph and Graham IV.
----
;Caph : On Caph, the attack was led by the 4th Davion Guards RCT who were joined by the 1st Argyle Lancers, the 4th & 8th Crucis Lancers RCTs. Much was made via propaganda broadcasts that the heirs to the Duke of Caph Kalvin Gustafson were serving in the 4th Davion Guards. Their heirs were leading the way to reclaim their lost homeworld. Small scale uprisings by pro-FedSuns guerrilla's broke out across the planet which while not adding a great amount of actual military force did provide the liberating force valuable intelligence. The cavalry forces of the 4th Davion Guards, 1st Argyle Lancers, and 4th Crucis Lancers landed and proceeded to sweep forward to engage the WOB troops in a war of fast attacks and flanking operations, while the heavy and assault weighted machines of the 8th Crucis Lancers advanced more slowly to provide a strong base which the others could fall back upon if needed.The WOB forces were hampered on Caph by sabotage from FedSuns partisans. In addition to partisans, this also clouded the loyalty of the two locally raised Caph Protectorate Guard formations who were largely sidelined in case of treachery. This left the single WOB Militia Division facing off against a much larger force and struggling to hold on by the end of March. On the 30th of March, despite concerns the WOB Precentor had been forced to call the 1st & 2nd Caph Protectorate Guards into the fighting.
----
;Graham IV: On Graham IV, the Federated Suns Navy led the way. The 4th Cruiser Squadron escorted a large scale formation of infantry transports which proceeded to dock with the two orbiting space stations above Graham IV and disgorge a full brigade of Federated Suns Marines - with heavy battle armor reinforcements. The defending Graham Protectorate Guard, largely consisting of infantry fought hard, but were reluctant to force the issue in case the stations on which their families lived were destroyed. After three days of heavy fighting, Guards surrendered. In the meantime, the 1st Ceti Hussars RCT landed upon the planet in the few areas which were still home to large human settlements and swiftly seized the mostly mining towns and small cities in the name of the Federated Suns. In a surprising move, they were supported by the Wolf's Dragoons' Zeta Battalion in the limited fighting that took place.
----
===Naval Developments for the AFFS ===
The Federated Suns Navy also saw a number of warships added to it's active ships during March. From Galax Shipyards, the Fox II class corvettes FSS Genoa, FSS Almach, FSS Listowel, FSS Parma, and FSS Colorado are completed along with the FSS Dauphin, a Davion III class destroyer. The five Fox II corvettes are added to the 9th Corvette Flotilla to bring it up to ten warships, while the FSS Dauphin is dispatched to join the 3rd Carrier Battle Group. The FSS Dalliance is laid down in slip recently emptied by FSS Dauphin. In the while, the FSS Logandale, FSS Fallon, FSS Brundage, FSS Lucerne, and FSS Estuan are laid down in the corvette slips. 
The Davion III Class Destroyer, FSS Davidson completes at Kathil and is immediately dispatched to join the FSS Dauphin in the 3rd Carrier Battle Group. The two Avalon class cruisers completed at Kathil, the FSS Zane Davion and FSS Ellen Davion, join the 5th Cruiser Squadron. 
The FSS Andrew Terlecki is the prize of the new construction, completing at the New Syrtis shipyards. She forms the core of the 5th Carrier Battle Group. Nobody is surprised when the next New Syrtis carrier laid down is named the FSS Walker Clay. 
The Davion shipyards also complete the CWIE Great Wolf for the Clan Wolf-in-Exile's fleet as well as a Fox corvette for the ComGuards. The next Davion III Class destroyer laid down in the vacant slip is destined for the LAN. 
----
===Developments in Industry===
On Demeter the Lycomb Davion plant see's its second BattleMech line go operation when brand new Lancelot's begin walking off the production lines. These machines are swiftly allocated to the forming Arcadian Chasseurs. With the fall of the SLDF, the AFFS has taken over that entities share of the industrial plants production - although is making efforts to send the machines to units which have some links to the SLDF.
Above June, the first Merchant class JumpShip is laid down within the FedBoeing shipyard. For now only a single JumpShip is under construction but the yard is planned to expand the number of slips available throughout the year until August by which time nearly a dozen JumpShips will be being built in a state of the art facility.
On Northfield the secondary plant for Cosara Weaponries see's it's third Crab line enter production. While demand for this versatile medium BattleMech is high, there are no current plans to expand production further.
On Torrence, the second Thunderbolt-NAIS line goes operational. Immediately work begins on a large scale expansion of the Dagger-O production facilities on the planet - helped by very generous grants by the wealthy duke of the world who is keen to continue his planets economic expansion.
At the Draconis March the Heavy Industrial Mech Company plant on Deneb Kaitos, the first of the new Kiso IndustrialMech production lines go operational. While the companies plant on Dieron continues to prioritize sales to the newly conquered territories of the Draconis March the Deneb Kaitos plant offers it's production more wide scale and is soon packed with orders, particularly from the League March.
The second Fury Command Tank line for Jolassa-Kumbold armored Weapons goes operational. The production increase is immediately allocated to units such as the forming Draconis March Militia and the Robinson Rangers armored formations.
On Capella, the new Corsair line goes operational but is then taken offline for two weeks within 24 hours of opening due to industrial sabotage by Liao-loyalists. However the damage is caught quickly and by the end of the month the line has reentered limited production.
The rebuilding line at New Hessen for Thunderbolt-NAIS Heavy 'Mech finally completes it's reconstruction and enters production. Just in time for it's production to be dispatched hurriedly towards the supply depots being built at Addicks.
On Tortuga Achernar BattleMech's announces the construction of a new facility. Initially this is planned to build the easily constructed Legionnaire class BattleMech, but consideration is under way to build a battle armor facility at the same location if things go well. 
-----
===Kurita Civil War===
====Fighting on Dumaring====
Within the Draconis Combine the Civil War continues to heat up, with the fighting on Dumaring escalating when the 12th "Vega" Dieron Regulars on order from their Warlord arrived on the planet and moved rapidly to reinforce the 5th Galedon Regulars. This briefly gave the Minoru Loyalists the upper hand, however the arrival of the 7th and 8th Arkab Legions although green gave the numerical advantage back to the Hohiro Loyalist forces. The two dug in defending regiments proceeded to weather a storm of large scale attacks form the Arkab Legions which cost the Legions heavily but bloodied their new troops. 
----
====42nd Galedon Regulars Purging of the Disloyal====
On Xinyang, the 42nd Galedon Regulars continued to purge the local government, aristocracy and even government officials of any "disloyal elements". These purges were soon so wide scale that the 42nd was forced to begin using machine guns for executions to keep pace with the "trials" conducted in the name of the Coordinator. The estates and positions of the "traitors" were then handed out to supporters and members of the 42nd.
----
====Love and Hate on Benjamin====
The 6th Arkab Legion and the 6th Ghost arrived upon Benjamin on the 22nd of March. They were greeted very differently, with the 6th Arkab given a hero's welcome and resupplied immedietly, while the 6th Ghost's members were arrested as traitors and thrown into Benjamin's jails. The 6th Arkab was dispatched immediately to Arkab to protect their homeworld in the name of Kanrei Hohiro Kurita. 
----
====Pledge of Loyalty====
On Luthien, itself the 3rd Genyohsas officers are brought before Warlord Pesht and the Coordinator (who is heavily medicated by his doctors for the ceremony) and are requested to pledge their allegiance to his heir, Minoru Kurita. Given that much of the Genyosha Brigade is loyal to their former commander Hohiro Kurita this is felt necessary. Over two thirds of the officers take the oaths asked of them, with the others being quietly led away to seclusion for the duration of the Civil War. While many suggest they should be executed the Dragon is far too short of elite warriors to throw any away so recklessly and Theodore Kurita has them placed in secure compounds, but shown every honor until such time as the Civil War is over and they can return to duty. He praises their honesty in not giving false oaths in his decision. 
----
===Fall of Arctuus to the Wolves===
At Arcturus, battle is joined when the eight defending Fox I corvettes attempt to contest the approach of the Clan Wolf naval forces. The battle is conducted at long range and the Foxes do everything they can to harass the incoming force without being crushed under it's heavy guns. The CWS Nicholas Kerensky leads the way with two Black Lion battlecruiser escorts - the CWS Stealthy Kill and CWS Blood Drinker. Among its screen elements consisting of the CWS Nature's Wrath, CWS Relentless Pursuit, and CWS Trailblazer along with a large force of combat dropships and fighter binaries. The Lyran warships conduct long range duels using naval lasers and missiles and manage to inflict moderate damage upon the Lola III class Destroyer, CWS Nature's Wrath, but at a cost to similar damage to the LAS Coventry and LAS Dalkeith. They are however unable to stop the Wolves from reaching orbit and their transportation dropships from conducting a combat drop upon Arcturus's capital of Malcheema. To the surprise of Khan Ward and his closest adviser the city is almost entirely deserted, it's few remaining occupant evacuated and only a handful of snipers conducting a defense that mostly consists of shooting any MechWarrior or elemental stupid enough to leave their BattleMech or Battle Armor. 
Khan Ward's instinct is to demolish the city and then strike out, but Galaxy Commander Steiner manages to convince him that it would be best to retain the city, potentially as a suitable capital for a vastly expanded Clan Wolf Occupation Zone. After all the symbolism of ruling from the former capital of the entire Lyran Commonwealth can hardly be denied. Reluctantly accepting her advice he instead orders his clusters into the field to hunt down the Lyran defenders who have dispersed across the planet...
----
 Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter
0196, Chapter