FSRB Chpt 111

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 111==
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February 3069Operation Rat II Fourth Wave
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===Operation Rat II - Wave 4 Launches===
As the Fourth Wave kicked off what the Capellans had been dreading for months finally occurred. Large scale forces descending upon the "Fortress Worlds" of Capella and Sarna... Worse, the AFFS not content with attacking these worlds the Davions were continuing to push on deeper into the Confederation, striking more and more poorly defended worlds.
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===Wave 4===
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====Sarna====
Sarna's defenders had done what they could to prepare for the invasion, but with a lack of warship support they knew that they would not be able to stop the invading Davions before they made planet fall. Still they rushed as many aerospace fighters and hastily militarized dropships into production as they could. The pilots and crews for these new assets were recruiting from not only the Sarna Martial Academy but also the plant workers and any retired veterans on the world. Any faint hope that they might be able to blunt the invasion in space were entirely dispelled when the invasion force jumped in led by the 1st Patrol Squadron, 1st Destroyer Squadron and the 2nd Division of the 3rd Corvette Flotilla. No less than 10 warships - 2 Congress-D II, 4 Davion III and 4 Fox I class ships - were leading the attack.  Backing them up were multiple independent aerospace regiments and assault dropship formations. 
Sending the hastily assembled dropship and aerospace forces available to the defenders against this overwhelming force was tantamount to throwing them away for little to go gain - a suicide mission. They were sent anyway. With predictable results. The scratch force of aerospace fighters and converted dropships charged into the defensive fire of the Davion ships and their veteran supporting wings and burned without inflicting damage on a single warship. A number of Davion fighter wing's took heavy losses and several pocket warships and assault dropships were destroyed or damaged, but the warship's themselves remained intact and led the way forward to take up orbital positions around Sarna. 
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At which point the first wave of the invasion forces began to land. Leading the way came the 5th Syrtis Fusiliers RCT (specifically brought up from their garrison posting on Kathil where they had been replaced by the 2nd Chisholm Raiders RCT). The 5th had a history on Sarna, but with the invasion itself led by their old commanding officer Field Marshal Nathaniel Hasek himself this time they were determined to "do it right". Therefore rather than rushing ahead, they were merely leading the way for the other 2 RCTs in the first wave. Following them in were the 1st FedSuns Dragoons RCT and the 1st Kestrel Grenadiers RCTs. This first wave crashed down around the planetary capital of Sarna and within days was engaged in heavy fighting with the 1st Capellan Defense Force. 
Under almost instant heavy pressure from not 1, but 3 veteran formations Sang-shao Garry Weinrib was forced to call upon the troops of the 4th Capellan Defense Force to reinforce his lines. This left the rest of the planet only covered by the Sarna Martial Academy Cadre and a handful of Home Guard units. While hurried reinforcement's had brought the Cadre up to roughly 5 companies of battlemech's these new additions had actually reduced the overall effectiveness of the formation despite it's increased size. 
As soon as the AFFS intelligence officers had become aware that the 4th Capellan Defense Force was shifting to support the 1st, they sent word to the second wave of the invasion force who were waiting in nearby systems...
Using pirate jump points closer to the planet the already overwhelming firepower of the invading AFFS formations were bolstered by the arrival of the 1st Federated Suns Armored Cavalry, 2nd Lexington Combat Guards, and 1st Tikonov Cossacks. These new formations all at nearly full strength crashed down to Sarna in a wide formation, closing quickly on the isolated Sarna Martial Academy Cadre and the few Home Guard formations which had been determined to be a valid threat. The Cadre was swiftly overrun and the Home Guard formations largely surrendered in the face of the overwhelming firepower within days of the second waves arrival! 
By the end of February the city of Sarna was fully besieged, with the 1st & 4th Capellan Defense Forces fighting hard to hold their lines against repeated attacks and struggling to do so. Morale, which had already been low, had almost entirely collapsed with the news that the Davion's second wave had chopped the Cadre and the supporting Home Guard units to bits in a matter of days. Worse than just the loss of 1 of the 3 defending units, what little intelligence was reaching Sang-shao Weinrib made him aware that with the destruction of the Cadre, the Davion's second wave was now heading to reinforce the first wave in attacking him in the capital city. When their forces were added to the existing troops facing him the outcome would only be a matter of time... He hastily reformed his command, folding the massively under strength 4th into his own 1st while attaching the few Home Guard units he had under his command directly to his company commands... Weinrib was more and more convinced that his reorganizations were little more than moving the deck chairs on a sinking ship, but he was determined to hold out for as long as possible.
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====Sarmaxa====
The 8th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT arrived over Sarmaxa even as word of the invasion of Sarna had reached the defenders. The local Home Guard under orders from both Sarna and Sian to "drown the Davion invaders in their own blood" promptly surrender as the first of the dropship's burn flares became visible over their world.
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====Raballa====
The world of Raballa had always been known for it's loyalty towards House Liao and yet had surrendered easily during the Fourth Succession War. Perhaps as an effort to redeem that disloyalty the defending Home Guard units were determined to fight as hard as they could against any invasion. The 5th Crucis Lancers RCT's was however more than they could realistically expect to fight off. The local Home Guard formations put up a stiff fight at the spaceport before attempting to withdraw into prepared defensive lines around the planet's capital city, however the 5th Lancers pressed them so hard that they were unable to properly disengage and reform in their defensive lines. In a short ranged messy firefight the Raballa Home Guard was destroyed, but at the loss of roughly a fifth of the Lancers' fighting strength.
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====Lesalles====
Keen to avoid any destruction of their native ecosystem - such as their famed trees and the much prized Lesallian Mailsloth - and aware of the likelihood of reinforcements arriving to help them, the local Home Guard commanding officer and the planetary duke sent out word that they surrendered as soon as the 39th Avalon Hussars RCT arrived in system. The only fighting was caused when a number of pro-Liao loyalists attempted to seize the planetary duke to force him to resist, but this was dealt with by the Home Guard and his own bodyguards before the 39th had even managed to touchdown. All that was left for the Hussars to do was to take up garrison positions... 
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===Summary===
With the entire Liao Commonality now conquered (or reconquered) only Sarna remained holding out or more appropriately a single city on Sarna remained flying the flag of House Liao as overwhelming force moved in around it...
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