TBntG-3 Chpt 24

=The Bull and the Genie=
==Chapter 24 - Book III - The Clan Invasion==
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==Interlude: Irece and the Fall of The Dragon==
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Theodore Kurita knew that his position was unstable. Unfortunately, this forced him to take action ahead of the UMC plan, launching a series of land and space offensives against Clan held worlds. 
 
Perhaps the most notable world was Irece, a world that unusually for many Clan OZ worlds, had a large garrison, no less than 5 'mech regiments with 10 mixed regiments, coupled with extensive defenses. 
 
Later reports would indicate that this world's defenses were set up, not by Frederick (Ghost Bear)'s direct order but by former Tai-Sa David Chin, a soldier who had served the Combine for years, and who had managed to conceal the fact that his fiancee had been one of the citizens executed in the purges after the attempted assassination of Takashi Kurita in Rasalhague. 
 
With a keen understanding of Kuritan culture and doctrine, Chin made the decision to create an irresistible lure, an insult to the pride of the Dragon. A world literally on the border of the still free Combine worlds that was being used as a base by the enemy, which would force the numerically superior Combine forces to attack at a time and place of his choosing. 
 
Pulling off a defensive version of Frederick's use of New Avalon and Tharkad to pin enemy forces (before the ilKhan changed plans), Chin arranged the defenses to be just enough to demand a massive commitment of forces, but not enough to convince even the most hard headed Combine officer to bypass the world. Such an approach would have been madness on the Federated Commonwealth front (which was far more integrated with the UMC), but on the Combine front it was extremely useful. 
 
It was also an example of how quickly Frederick was willing to take and promote useful men and women to positions of power, and give them their lead. While it did not always work, many OZ forces were marked by flexible and effective leadership. 
 
When Chin's identity became known, an attack became inevitable, especially since Chin had named one of his units the "Dragon's Colon," as a clear insult. 
 
Theodore was not fooled, but enough powerful and conservative groups in the Combine were that he had no choice but to take action. 
 
When the first invasions started, the Clan forces, including elements of the Snow Raven fleet, did not attempt to drive the Combine away, focusing on damaging ships and military units, which often landed into the face of concentric fortifications and minefields, backed up with SDS systems that made orbital fire support very risky. That was an especially unpleasant surprise for Theodore, as no other Clan-held world had made use of SDS systems, preferring to use aerospace craft. (Later it would be found that this was making a virtue out of necessity as several of the weapons came from Clan warships that had been damaged too heavily to be put back into service in any reasonable time frame). 
 
TDF observers mentioned that it felt like a historical re-enactment of the Reunification War.
 
Nonetheless, three months after the first attack, Theodore was presented with a dilemma. Progress on Irece had been slow, and the warlords were becoming increasingly unhappy, as were many other groups, spurred, it is known today, by the Black Dragon Society and its fellow travelers. Irece was not simply a world, it was an insult to the Dragon, and it HAD to be reduced—a demand that was, to be honest, far out of proportion to the world's actual importance.
 
On the Clan side, Frederick was well satisfied. While expensive, the world was tying down far more Kuritan forces than Clan forces, and fighting from defensive positions reduced his casualties, with frontline Wolf and Ghost Bear units using the opportunity to raid into the Combine, or send unblooded units to fight on Irece where they could easily withdraw if the tide turned against them. 
 
When Theodore arrived to take charge, it was as much a political gesture as a military one. There was no easy way to secure victory, but the Coordinator (as the First Prince had in the disastrous Operation Liberation), needed to be seen as leading from the front. 
 
The UMC had not been consulted, and the diversion of the massive relief force took them by surprise, especially since large components of that force had been earmarked for backup units in the planned offensive. 
 
But that was not the worst thing. Theodore was now out of the palace, and in the field, and while the Otomo could protect him from random assassins, there was only so much they could do to keep soldiers away from him. The assumption was that any attack on the field of battle would be mad, both due to his undoubted skill as a mechwarrior, and the fact that a Daishi was one of the most powerful mechs on the battlefield, which protect him while his bodyguard dealt with the assassin. 
 
That was true. But what was not known was that the Black Dragon Society had managed to suborn a Mechwarrior to make the ultimate sacrifice for the future of the Combine. 
 
A sacrifice that involved removing most of the ammunition storage for his Archer and replacing it with a 25 kiloton laser-triggered fusion device, something that no number of bodyguards or skill could save a man from…
 
And something that would give the Black Dragons time to consolidate their rule as they claimed that the Clans had murdered the Coordinator with nuclear weapons…
 
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From: Broken Sword: The Fall of the Draconis Combine. Irece Press, 3090.
"There are times when you wonder about what might have beens.""Like, 'What could have happened if we'd realized just how bad things were in the Combine a month earlier.""But we didn't."General Mary Cheng: interview Solaris Broadcasting Service, 3090.
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Book 3 - 24