FSRB Chpt 137

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 137==
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February 3070Operation Achilles I
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===FedSuns-Combine War Plan - Overview===
To nobodies surprise the Davion High Command had constantly updated their war plans for the invasion of the Draconis Combine. Even during the detente during the 3050s the war plans that would send dozen's of regiments and RCTs slicing deep into the Combine had been under continual review and had been updated to take account of the latest intelligence and force reports. Of late these reviews and updates had taken on an entirely new urgency however. Therefore Operation Alexander as the current plans were named was almost daily updated and ready to be launched with almost no notice.
Operation Alexander was divided into 3 distinctive sub-operations. The first, Operation Achilles was those elements of the overall invasion which were directed at the Dieron Military District. The second, Operation Ajax was the parts of Operation Alexander which pertained to the invasion of the Benjamin Military District. While the third, Operation Agamemnon was the invasion plans for the Galedon Military District.
On the 10th of February 3070 all three sub-operations of Operation Alexander were authorized and the kick off date for the attack was made the 12th of February. Although it wasn't expected that the various forces would hit enemy territory until almost the end of the month. Still the original operation plan called for hitting the DCMS with everything they could, as hard and fast as they could and keeping the pressure on. This war was going to be fought on the AFFS's terms if the High Command had anything to say about it and they hoped to force the Dragon to be forced onto the back foot and end up responding to them rather than taking the initiate itself.
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===Dieron Military District Invasion===
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====Dieron====
No less than 3 RCTs of the Davion Brigade of Guards (the Assault, 2nd & 4th Guards) led the way against Fortress Dieron. Backing them up were the 4th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT and 5th Robinson Rangers RCT as well as all 4 regiments of the Vegan Rangers and 2 of the Fighting Urukhai. No less than a full dozen conventional brigades had been scrambled to add extra weight to the attack, although some of these were not with the invasion forces initial wave just due to the sheer amount of transportation assets this would have required. To escort them came no less than 12 Fox II class corvettes of the 4th Corvette Flotilla and the 4 Avalon class cruisers of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron and a veritable fleet of assault dropships and pocket warships along with multiple wings of independent fleet based aerospace fighters. These fleet elements had also been authorized to use nuclear ordinance if a) the WOB fleet showed itself immediately or 2) if the DCA deployed their own nuclear weapons.
Facing off against this invasion force were the 1st and 2nd Genyosha under the direct command of Kanrei Hohiro Kurita and the 3rd, 49th, and 50th Dieron Regulars under Warlord Isoroku Kurita. While the 2 Genyosha regiments and the 3rd Dieron Regulars were battle hardened forces the 49th & 50th Dieron Regulars were scratch formations formed from a mix of retirees, academy graduates and odds and ends that the Warlord had scavenged up to make up the numbers. The conventional forces attached to the 49th and 50th were at least of superior levels of skill having been drawn directly from the regular garrison forces of Dieron. Although this had stripped out the best of these forces. In orbit, the Kirishama class cruiser the DCS Siriwan leads the defensive fleet which consists of the additional warships the DCS Dieron Star and 4 Inazuma class corvettes. Outnumbered almost 3:1, the DCA forces are somewhat encouraged when they are informed that their new allies will soon be sending warships to support them.
If and when these reinforcements arrive in time to save the Dragon's sailors is another matter however. Even before the warships close on each other the space between them is filled with the dead and dying as both sides aerospace fighters duel for superiority. The DCA formations are bolstered by the large aerospace assets assigned to defend not only Dieron but it's vital shipyards, however that only gives them equality of numbers. In skill the best of the DCMS and DCA formations can match the battle hardened fighter wings of the AFFS but overall the Davion's level of skill is slightly higher. However in equipment the Kurita fighters find themselves massively outclassed - except for a handful of upgraded designs and similarly sparse Tatsu OmniFighters. Compared to the mass numbers of Dagger-O and Huscarl OmniFighters leading the Davion charge which are backed up by even larger numbers of newly produced upgraded Stuka, Ahab, Vulcans, Hammerheads, Corsairs, Tomahawks, Sparrowhawks, and Sabres Aerospace Fighters that make up almost the entirety of the Davion aerospace forces. With the benefit of the better equipment and the advantage of marginally more skilled general pilots the Davion fighters begin pushing the Dragon's fighter wings back as the warships advance behind them.
Faced with overwhelming firepower, the DCA Admiral in charge from the bridge of the DCS Siriwan orders a general retreat away from Dieron to attempt to preserve his fleet until the arrival of reinforcements allow him to take the fight to the Federated Suns Navy. Unfortunately for his plan the captain of the DCS Dieron Star and one of the attached Inazuma corvettes ignore his orders and instead opt for a more "Bushido" stance of a heroic charge against the invading fleet in the spirit of "true samurai". With much of the fighter cover withdrawing with the main fleet the DCS Dieron Star and it's single escorting corvette are hammered with massed fighter wave attacks with entire wings of Stuka and Hammerhead class aerospace fighters strafing the charging ships until they are both destroyed without coming into range of the Davion task force. Both ships are reduced to wrecks and a handful of pocket warships move in to finish them off while the main task force takes up high orbital positions over Dieron and begins to prepare to land the huge number of troops it's been escorting while keeping an eye on the surviving DCA ships.
As February ended the first of the dropships and drop assault pods began raining down across Dieron while aerospace fighters streaked down to keep the defenders off balance...
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====Quentin====
The veteran 45th Dieron Regulars hadn't forgotten the last time the AFFS had visited and had spent the years since working on the defensive works around the huge Independence Weaponry factory complex. However they were still short nearly a full battalion of mechwarriors but had managed to somewhat allow for this by integrating the defensive security forces of the huge factory directly into their command structure as well as making sure they had the best equipment that Quentin produced within their ranks. They also hadn't only worked with the local security forces but had built up excellent relationships with the local militia forces as well. While on paper they numbered only 7 companies of Battlemechs and 2 conventional regiments of troops they had in fact almost 11 companies of Battlemechs and a full half dozen conventional regiments of troops at their disposal. One area they couldn't do much about however was the aerospace wings attached to their command. While officially they still numbered 2 wings, they had in fact only a single wing of fighters available. Repeated requests for additional fighters had been either ignored or refused.
Therefore when the first jump signals began to appear Tai-sa Sebastian Iota ordered his troops to fall back on the Steel Valley and into his prepared fortifications. His few fighters were moved to heavily reinforced bunkers for protection and tasked only with contesting air superiority over the Steel Valley itself for as long as possible. While a few of the local politicians decried this lack of proper spirit it was soon proven entirely correct.
Burning in and landing near the end of February were no less than 3 AFFS commands. Led by the 3rd Federated Suns Armored Cavalry the task force also consisted of the 4th & 17th Avalon Hussars RCTs. Their combined fighter wings outnumbered the DCMS fighter pilots almost 4:1 and it was all that the 45th's air wings could do to contest the air space directly over their parent formations lines. Even that would soon be beyond them due to sheer attrition.
Landing the AFFS force immediately moved up to the defensive works around the Steel Valley and prepare for a siege. Their plan was simple. While their combined air wings wore down the defenders the green troops of the 4th Avalon Hussars would probe and test the defences - wearing down the defenders as well as blooding their troops in real albeit low level combat - while the 17th Avalon Hussars and the 3rd FSAC would hold themselves in readiness to break the enemy lines if the opportunity presented itself...
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====Saffel====
In a surprise move, the 1st Sheraton Knights appeared over Saffel using a pirate point and began dropping onto the ill prepared word with almost no notice on the 25th of February. With the Knight's Battlemech forces landing and forming up a strong landing zone the armoured regiment that many saw as the heart of the Knights began unloading along with the mechanized infantry regiment. The few militia forces on planet mobilized to attempt to hold them back from the planetary capital of Iwanji as February drew to a close... 
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====Altair====
The planetary defense forces fresh from word of the invasion at Dieron (and shaken by the sheer size of the reported invasion force the AFFS was committing to the capital of the District) were further rocked when the 33rd Avalon Hussars RCT appeared in their own system on the 27th. While the invading RCT hadn't made planet fall by the end of the month there was widespread panic on the part of the militia formations who were suddenly facing an experienced and well equipped frontline Avalon Hussar command. To make morale worse for the defenders the under strength 33rd Avalon Hussars had brought along their empty dropships so as to give the impression they were at full strength... Indeed they had managed to grab an extra Overlord and a Union class dropship which although empty and almost totally decrepit gave the impression that they had an additional reinforced battalion with them on top of their own 4 battalions and command company of Battlemechs... 
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