DVH Chpt 12

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==Davion Heir (BattleTech CYOA)Chapter 12==
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===Battle of Tikonov===
Tikonov
Tikonov Commonality, Capellan Confederation
1st November, 3014
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Whatever the outcome, the Battle of Tikonov was going to be a grand affair with at least two thousand ‘Mechs being deployed between both sides. That alone was going to eclipse the Battle of Wright from earlier in the year and the number was only going to grow higher if Capellan reinforcements showed up, which was a real possibility given how many units were still stationed nearby with two regiments of the New Hessen Irregulars only a single jump away while Laurel’s Legions and the 1st Ariana Fusiliers were a couple of jumps away. If they all showed up, the number of ‘Mechs involved would begin to approach twenty-five hundred.
 
The opening engagement of the invasion had gone well when the Night Riders had been wiped away by an overwhelming amount of Davion ASFs. With the deep-space interdiction forces out of the way, it was simple enough for every last DropShip to make it to the ground, especially with the oversized aerospace elements of the three Deneb Light Cavalry RCTs in the invasion force.
 
Alongside the 4th, 5th, and 8th Deneb Light Cavalry, the AFFS invasion force also includes the 1st and 3rd Davion Guards along with the Davion Heavy Guards. The rest of the invaders are made up of mercenaries with the elite Kell Hounds, all three regiments of the famous Eridani Light Horse and the reliable Lexington Combat Group.
 
With thirteen BattleMech regiments and dozens of supporting conventional forces, the House Davion soldiers make landfall to do battle with seven regiments’ worth of defending MechWarriors alongside the scores of conventional regiments that make up Tikonov’s vast militia and amongst the AFFS forces is First Prince Victoria Davion herself.
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While she is the First Prince and there is plenty of precedent for her fighting on the battlefield, Victoria isn’t foolish enough to lead the charge. When she and her command lance from the 1st Davion Guards are ready to take to the field, it is after the 4th Deneb Light Cavalry and the 1st Davion Guards have already engaged Hamilton’s Highlanders and MacGregor’s Armoured Scouts outside of the city that they were defending. The Capellan forces gambled on avoiding the close-quarters of urban combat to fight in the open field, but between the indomitable forces of the Davion Guards and the rapid mobility of the Deneb Light Cavalry, their plan backfired on them.
 
Not that Victoria doubts that things would have gone much better for the Cappies if they had chosen to fight in the city. Not only are they outnumbered two to three, but only the Highlanders can match the skill of the Davion forces in this fight. Even the conventional forces are roughly equal in number with the edge of experience once again going to the battle-hardened AFFS soldiers over the local Tikonov militia.
 
The battle is very much ongoing as Victoria leads her Highlander into the fray. A Kurita-variant Wasp is the First Prince’s first target. The Light ‘Mech that is darting around has already taken some armor damage, but nothing too serious. Nonetheless, it should be a relatively easy target for Victoria to take out.
At this distance, Victoria is limited in her options so she lines up a lock with her LRMs. The Crusader and Archer with Victoria add their weight of fire to her own barrage and within moments, almost a hundred LRMs are bearing down on the unfortunate Wasp. The Liao pilot tries to avoid the incoming doom, but the Armoured Scouts aren’t pros like many of the units fighting on Tikonov. Between the damage already dealt to the Wasp and its naturally light protection, the Wasp is down and out when the smoke clears, but by that point, Victoria is already looking for her next target.
She finds it as a pair of Vedettes roll over a hill, marking them out to the rest of her lance. As the militia tanks spot her, Victoria jumps towards them. They attempt to open fire on her, but Victoria is too agile and moving too fast for the militia gunners and both medium autocannons miss as Victoria rains down a barrage of LRMs upon their position. Like before, the other two LRM-equipped ‘Mechs in her lance join her and it isn’t long before the two tanks are being peppered with missiles.
None of the LRMs get a killing blow or even breach the armor, but they have certainly softened up the militia tanks and that is what matters as Victoria gets within autocannon range. Victoria aims the shot ahead of time, just waiting to pull the trigger on her autocannon once she gets within firing range and then promptly does so.
The shell slams into the weakened side armor of a Vedette, the force of the explosion obliterating the remaining armor in that region and mangling both the structure and crew inside. The remaining tank begins to back up, but it continues to take LRM fire from the rest of her lance. It proves insufficient to destroy the vehicle like its fellow, it leaves its armor low across the board and when Victoria unleashes another volley of her own LRMs, the crew bails from their battered tank.
 
Unfortunately for the First Prince, she doesn’t have any time to savor her victory because the Capellans have finally organized a proper response to her presence. A large laser lashes out at her Highlander, burning away armor on her right torso as a lance of ‘Mechs in the colors of the Hamilton’s Highlanders come into view. A pair of Phoenix Hawks along with a couple of Warhammers and given that they are from the Highlanders, they almost certainly have some degree of meaningful skill.
<<“For the First Prince!”>> cries the last of Victoria’s bodyguards on a public channel as he charges past Victoria in his Victor.
As Victoria puts some space between her and the approaching enemy ‘Mechs, the Victor unloads into the closest of the Phoenix Hawks with a full Alpha Strike. Its assault autocannon unfortunately misses as does one of the medium lasers, but the other melts a gorge in the torso armor whilst the SRMs leave a trio of holes in the Liao ‘Mech.
The Warhammers ignore the Victor as they fire on Victoria with their PPCs. Thankfully between her distance and her mobility, only two of the bolts of blue lightning strike her. One impacts the left arm and the other strikes her left leg, doing no small amount of damage to both locations whilst leaving Victoria’s electronics on the slight fritz. She fires her LRMs at one of them, but the missiles are just too few to do any serious damage to the Warhammer.
 
The Phoenix Hawks try to flank the First Prince as her Victor bodyguard continues its charge as its pilot tries to distract the pair of Heavy ‘Mechs, but the Liao pilots find themselves contested by two more Davion ‘Mechs. Victoria’s Crusader bodyguard positions herself between the damaged Phoenix Hawk and the First Prince while the other one is attacked by a Valkyrie from the 4th Deneb Light Cavalry. For her part, Victoria chooses the first Phoenix Hawk as her victim based on its proximity to her.
Victoria is barely able to keep track of the battle as she balances walking her ‘Mech whilst targeting the Phoenix Hawk. The Liao ‘Mech doesn’t last long between her Highlander and the Crusader doing its best to get up close and personal while its twin is able to win its duel with the Valkyrie, forcing the Davion pilot to eject after their ride takes severe damage. Its victory is short-lived as Victoria jumps behind it, firing an autocannon shell that breaches its rear armor and ignites the machine gun ammo within its torso.
The Victor did its best to bring down the Warhammers, but its foes are no slouches and by the time that both Phoenix Hawks are down, so is the Victor as Victoria’s bodyguard is finally forced to eject after losing a leg. He didn’t go down without a fight however as both Warhammers are running hot with all areas suffering varying degrees of damage and both ‘Mechs have suffered a couple of armour breaches. With the Crusader throwing itself into the fray while the Archer continues to pelt them with LRMs, there is only so long that the two Warhammers will be able to hold out and it seems that they know it as they begin to fall back.
 
A Bulldog tank from the militia shows up, but before it can properly engage, a pair of Saladins from the 4th Deneb Light Cavalry take it out with a strike to its rear. Victoria fires at one of the retreating Warhammers with her LRMs, but the Capellan ‘Mechs are retreating faster than Victoria can pursue. A glance at the wider battlefield indicates that it is part of a larger trend and as far as the First Prince can tell, the AFFS has won the day in this part of Tikonov.
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=== Deciding for the Next Direction ===
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Tikonov
Tikonov Commonality, Capellan Confederation
4th November, 3014
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“CCAF reinforcements have just arrived so what’s next, Victoria?” asks Ran Felsner at the command meeting of the Tikonov invasion force.
 
“They can’t turn the tide of the battle,” replies Victoria, “Don’t get me wrong, the New Hessen Irregulars are no slouches and the 1st Ariana Fusiliers are tough, but three regiments isn’t going to save Tikonov now. Especially when we have sufficient aerospace forces to ensure that not all of those reinforcements will be making it safely to the ground.”
 
“What’s left isn’t going to hold either,” says Brevet General Kerston of the Eridani Light Horse, “We’ve paid a heavy price for it, but of the original garrison, they can only muster up to two regiments in ‘Mechs and they are scattered across the planet without their defensive positions anymore.”
 
“Less of a heavy price than it seems.” adds Morgan Kell from beside Victoria, “We lost a lot of our own ‘Mechs, but most of their pilots were able to eject safely and combined with retaining the field, we have a lot of salvage that can be restored into a working state.”
 
“I know how things work, Colonel Kell, but that is a long-term concern,” replies Brevet General Kerston, “It takes time for those ‘Mechs to be repaired and time for injured MechWarriors to heal. Time that we don’t have before Tikonov’s fate is already decided.”
 
“Tikonov’s fate is already decided,” says Victoria firmly, “The only question is how much does everyone lose before the Cappies accept the inevitable outcome.”
 
“I say let them run if they want,” says Ran Felsner, “We’ve captured the planet with the factories intact, we have captured enough ‘Mechs to offset our losses in salvage and between deaths and captures, the CCAF has lost half of its defending force. We have our victory, no need to push our luck when the Capellans are going to be recovering from this invasion for a lot longer than we will be.”
 
“I agree with Marshal Felsner,” adds another Marshal, “We’ve won, reports of victories are coming in from across the entire front. If the Cappies want to flee, let them. If they want to fight, we’ll just crush them again.”
 
“I’m inclined to agree,” Victoria as she thinks about how the rest of the joint invasion has been going so far, “No matter how much of the CCAF gets away, they will still lose the majority of their military industries. Even if we do end up facing them in the future, they won’t be able to recover from their losses as quickly as we will. In the meantime, we do have the Combine to worry about.”
 
“That is a good point,” agrees a Marshal, “The Dracs aren’t just going to sit around and wait for their turn.”
 
“That said, I do intend to launch further invasions of the Confederation when Tikonov is reasonably secure. Strike at New Hessen to force the hand of the New Hessen Irregulars. They will be given the options of fighting and getting crushed as a fighting force for the CCAF, retreating and losing their homeworld or keeping their homeworld by switching sides.”
 
“You would allow that?” asks Brevet General Kerston in some surprise, “The third option I mean.”
“They’re mercenaries, they have a good rating and it worked with the Northwind Highlanders.” replies Victoria, “Liao-aligned mercenaries, but there is a good chance that their loyalty will be to their homeworld before the Confederation. If it is, I have no problem leveraging that to get another world and a couple of regiments to jump ship to the Suns. It doesn’t mean that I’ll necessarily trust them, but I don’t see them being in a position to backstab us whilst doing meaningful harm before we eliminate them. I’ll speak with the leaders of the First and Second New Hessen Irregulars, see if I can cut a deal with them.”
“You might want to cut a similar deal with Laurel’s Legion on Tigress,” suggests Morgan, “They’re another mercenary unit whose loyalty lies with their homeworld. If it becomes a choice between losing Tigress or abandoning the Confederation, they’ll choose the latter every time.”
“I’ll take that under advisement, Colonel Kell.” says Victoria as the First Prince wonders if she has gotten too ambitious with her scheme to break the Capellan Confederation.
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=== Diplomatic & Battlefield Victories ===
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Tikonov
Tikonov Commonality, Capellan Confederation
20th November, 3014
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“Congrats, Vicky, you’ve done it.” says Tahmina as the First Prince continues to pour over the incoming reports from both the AFFS and the ones from the FWLM that Janos is sending her, “The Capellan Confederation is broken. Your name will be going down in the history books.”
 
“Brokering the Solaris Accords ensured that,” says Morgan, “Beating up the Cappies this badly is just ensuring that her passage is longer.”
 
“Becoming the First Prince was what guaranteed that history would remember me,” Victoria tells them, “Or maybe almost getting assassinated in the Davion Palace. Everything since is just determining what I am remembered for.”
 
Nonetheless, Tahmina isn’t wrong that the Capellan Confederation is broken. It isn’t dead by a long shot, but it has lost the majority of its military industry, the CCAF is in tatters and between the League and Michael, the Confederation will be cut in three.
 
Within half a year of becoming First Prince, Victoria has forged a tentative peace between the Federated Suns, the Lyran Commonwealth and the Free Worlds League. Within a year of becoming First Prince, she has crippled one of the Successor States and barring a miracle, House Liao’s fortune will be relegated to that of a minor power like the Taurian Concordat or the Magistracy of Canopus. The Draconis Combine is set up to be similarly broken within the next few years though the Dracs will likely retain most of their military industry due to how deep into its territory it is.
Yet Victoria feels like the other shoe is just waiting to be dropped.
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==Author's Chapter Notes==
;Word from the Author: And here is the invasion of the Capellan Confederation. I was planning to make it cover more updates, but I decided that I didn’t want to get bogged down with the minute of the invasion so I showed a snapshot from part of the fighting, some of the post-initial fighting discussion amongst the senior leadership and I was going to have Victoria summarizes how the invasion has gone, but I decided that it would be better if that had its own separate chapter in a report/summary-style format.Anyway, the Feddies and Leaguers are feeling good about themselves, the Lyrans are looking forward to what is to come, ComStar and the Taurians are panicking and the Dragon is grimly preparing to weather the storm that is to come.
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