FSRB Chpt 142

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 142==
 Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter
----
March 3070Operation Ajax II
-----
===Ajax Progress Report===
The key target for Operation Ajax was of course Proserpina. Capturing this world would be a huge blow to the DCMS and to the wider Draconis Combine. Ignoring the industrial potential of the planet itself taking away the homeworld of the elite Proserpina Hussars brigade from the Combine would be a major coup and one that couldn't be downplayed by the Combine. If this was combined with the fall of a Military District capital world to Operation Achilles then this would crush the fighting spirit of the DCMS.
-----
===Benjamin Military District Invaded===
-----
====Proserpina====
The 4th Genyosha found itself arrayed against no less than 4 of the finest AFFS units, 3 of them RCT's to boot. Given the nature of the opponent it was no surprise when the 1st Robinson Rangers were chosen to lead the assault against the dug in DCMS unit. With no less than a full battalion of Atlas, King Crabs, Sagittairres, Battlemasters, Gunslingers, and Victors Assault Mechs all produced within the Draconis March leading the way the 1st Robinson crunched into the Genyosha lines around the city of Kalida Qan on the 4th March. Which held. If barely. This was the type of the brawling fight that the 1st Robinson's 1st battalion was made for and it showed. Worse from the point of view of the 4th Genyosha, Duke Sandoval had understandably prioritized his flagship unit for the Wayland Mobile Bases assigned to his commands and as such no less than a dozen of these were set up just back from the front where they could repair and almost rebuild damaged machines with frightening speed. On the 6th of March, the Old Guard joined the battle and while the DCMS troops were holding the Rangers to a grinding slog the Davion Old Guard made swift progress against the mostly militia and damaged battlemechs it faced. This was repeated when the 1st Revenant Guard attacked from the direct opposite angle to the Rangers. With 2 spear thrusts cutting deep into their lines the 4th Genyosha had no option but to withdrawn directly into the Bulldog Industries plant itself to take advantage of it's heavy fortifications. Less than 4 companies of their Battlemech forces made it back to their redoubts. Before they could settle into their new fortifications the AFFS unleashed the 1st Argyle Lancers. Totally untouched by the combat this elite cavalry regiment rushed the Bulldog factories defensive works in 3 places while the 4th Genyosha was still rushing to man them. While 2 of the assaults were beaten back by frantic fire from the corporate security forces manning them the third punched through and seized a gate. Through which poured the 1st Revenants and Old Guard. By the 9th, the entire facility was in Davion hands and the 4th Genyosha destroyed. Although the factory had suffered heavy damage in the fighting. 
Leaving the damaged 1st Robinson's Rangers RCT to hold Darawan and rebuild their forces the rest of the units shifted over to join the rest of the AFFS forces encircling Conqueror's City. While waiting for these forces to arrive and deploy the AFFS made the offer to Sho-sho Shigeru Yoshida to allow the civilians to evacuate the city. However this was refused largely due to the fact that the Sho-sho had drafted much of the able bodied population into labor battalions to help strengthen his defensive works. When the units originally deployed to Darawan had arrived the AFFS forces began a gradual and sustained assault all along the perimeter on the 24th. The 1st Sword of Light and the 10th Hussars between them numbered 16 companies of Battlemech forces, reinforced with roughly a battalion of veteran Hussars who had joined the local militia and another battalion of cadets and officers from the Academy as well as sizeable militia formations. Facing them however were no less than 7 AFFS formations - 6 of them RCTs - and all at or near full strength. To make the numerical disadvantage even worse from the point of view of Sho-sho Yoshida was the fact that 5 of these formations were reinforced Battlemech regiments. 
By the end of March the Sho-sho Yoshida's forces were still holding out, but his casualties were mounting particularly in the green 10th Hussars and militia. With no working HPG he was forced to send word via his black box that unless help arrived soon his forces would be destroyed. Duty compelled him however to add that unless the relieving force had sizeable aerospace and ideally warship assets to break the Federated Suns Navy blockade they should not make the attempt.
-----
====Scheat====
When the various Davion fighter wings managed to catch the 4th Night Stalkers remaining fighters on the ground at a small civilian airstrip on the 8th of March. They destroyed 11 of the remaining 20 fighters before they could take off and then the rest as they clawed for altitude with half empty fuel tanks the writing was on the wall for the Night Stalkers. Now under constant observation from the air and with no fighter cover of their own to prevent harassing strafing runs the 4th broke into it's constituent companies and tried to disperse. 
Marshal Sal Cole, seeing an opportunity to prove that he wasn't limited to merely using his own Chasseurs immediately called upon the 6th FedSuns Dragoons to dispatch aid to his efforts to hunt down as many of these small bands as possible. While his own 1st Chasseurs broke into 5 task forces of 2 companies each to hunt down 5 of the dispersing 8 companies the 6th FedSuns' 3rd battalion combat hopped using their dropships to pursue the remaining 3 ships. 
In a series of running battles interspersed with massed air attacks from the various fighter wings of the New Ivaarsen Chasseurs and 6th Dragoons the AFFS hunted the Night Stalkers prairies. By the end of March a handful of isolated lances of Night Stalkers had managed to evade pursuit and go to ground - mostly in old abandoned mines that were abundant on Scheat - but the command as a formed military unit had been wiped out. 
Marshal Sal Cole sent word to Robinson and New Avalon that Scheat was effectively under FedSun's control and requested follow on garrison units be sent forward and further instructions for future operations. Marshal Isbella Rahn, of the 6th Dragoons, who had been content to allow Cole to run this operation did send word to Field Marshal Venger of the FedSun's Dragoons Brigade requesting that his unit not be paired with Cole for future.
-----
====Barlow's Folly/Cussar====
The 8th Amphigean Light Assault Group and the 16th Galedon Regulars had received orders via their black box to hit the world of New Mendham and destroy the 8th Crucis Lancers RCT that was stationed there alongside the 1st Proserpina Hussars which were to deploy from Xinyang and the 25th Benjamin Regualars from Matar. Although 3 of the 4 assigned units were green it was felt that 4:1 odds would allow them to overwhelm the 8th Crucis Lancers and deprive the AFFS of one of their finest RCTs for acceptable losses to the DCMS. The 1st Hussars were being counted on to stiffen the 3 green units. 
However, this plan fell apart as the 8th Amphigean and 16th Galedon were loading their dropships to make the rendezvous in the New Mendham system when no less than six Avalon Hussars RCTs jumped into the system named for one of their former officers. Leading the way came the rebuilt 38th which had once fought so desperately to hold the world of Cussar for the FedSuns. With no less than 6 aerospace fighter regiments each consisting of on paper 3 wings of 20 fighters each the Avalon Hussars streamed towards the planet. The 16th Galedon Regulars' CO Tai-sa William Tohiro realizing what was coming immediately ordered his dropships to blast off and make for a rendezvous with their Jumpships. Unfortunately this meant that the bulk of his 3rd battalion was left behind as it hadn't loaded yet along with almost his entire attached conventional forces. 
The 8th Amphigean Light Assault Group and the stranded 3rd battalion of the 16th Galedon made hurried preparations - but they weren't helped by the fact that most of their supplies had already been loaded onto dropships, dropships which in the remaining the Regulars case were no longer available. The population of the planet, long restive under Kurita control didn't help doing little but maintaining a sullen compliance with orders when forced into laboring and having to be watched constantly. 
This state of affairs was brought to a head when Field Marshal Roger Williams, newly promoted, made an impassioned speech from his flagship Colossus class Dropship as it approached orbit to the people of "Cussar". In it he spoke of the heroic bravery of Major Barlow and the men and women of his command who had fought and died for the world of Cussar to save it from Kurita tyranny. They had failed, but not through lack of effort or bravery ,but instead due to overwhelming numbers and the fortunes of war. Yet their sacrifice had never been forgotten by the men and women of the Avalon Hussars Brigade and the AFFS in general. Now the Avalon Hussars were coming back to Cussar. The 38th was coming back. The liberation of Cussar and the redemption of Major Barlow and the heroes of his battalion was at hand...
With this the sullen silent compliance of the citizen's of Barlow's Folly erupted into outright rebellion across the planet. It was also immediately obvious that an outside agency had helped organize this rebellion - with Davion special forces helping the rebels openly. Which was timed perfectly perfectly to the first waves of fighter attacks and descending Dropships. 
Within 24 hours the 38th Avalon Hussars, landing directly on top of the city of Angelius's spaceport,had destroyed the remaining forces of the 16th Galedon Regulars on the ground. Their few survivors who had attempted to flee west through the city had been ambushed and finished off by rebelling Cussar Militia and infantry elements of the 38th detached to reinforce the rebels. 
Meanwhile, the 1st, 5th, 14th, 20th, & 42nd Avalon Hussars had concentrated their attentions on the 8th Amphigean which had abandoned the city of Solus where they had been loading onto their Dropships. Despite the 8th consisting primarily of light Battlemechs designed for speed they soon found themselves boxed in and surrounded. Any attempts at breakouts were matched by the equally fast and better equipped and larger 5th Avalon Hussars RCT, while the heavier units closed a noose around them through the mountain valleys. In a series of running fights the 8th Amphigean was ground down until on the 29th of March the surviving elements surrendered after their last attempt to break out of a series of valleys they had been trapped in failed with the death of their CO Tai-sa Karen Snow.Lapida 
On the 30th of March, Field Marshal Roger Williams officially declared the world of Cussar to have returned to the Federated Suns. 
----
====Lapida====
With the 3rd Tancredi Loyalist LCT moving up to take over garrison duties on Fellanin II the 3rd Crucis Lancers RCT and the Blue Star Irregulars' 1894th Light Horse and the 21st Rim Worlds jump to the system of Lapida to attack the newly formed 14th and 15th Ghost regiments stationed there. Neither of the 2 Ghost regiments are exactly considered the most reliable of DCMS formations and the 15th Ghost proves this when at the first report of no less than 3 AFFS formations heading their way (2 of them are mercenary formations but to the yakuza that make up the 15th's rank and file this doesn't matter) they shoot the few officers who attempt to stop them and disperse taking as much of their equipment with them as they can for later resale. 
The 14th Ghost in a blatant attempt to prove that they can be trusted opts to fight the invaders as best they can. They sortie out from their positions in an attempt to attack the landing zones of the invading Davion troops, but this attempt is crushed by the fighters of the 3rd Crucis and the smaller attached formations of the Blue Star Irregulars. While they are falling back the 1894th sweeps out from their landing zone and takes them in the flank as the 3rd Lancers' Battlemech regiment rushes forward to attack them directly while their conventional forces are still offloading. Pinned in place there is little that the green troops of the 14th Ghost can do when the 21st Rim Worlds take them in the other flank. Caught on 3 sides and in a deadly crossfire the 14th Ghost makes one final attempt to redeem their honor and launches a banzai charge directly at the 3rd Crucis. Less than a company of the 14th Ghost survives to be taken prisoner and all of them are injured to some degree or other. 
Lapida is not considered entirely pacified due to the existence of a large body of armed troops which have attempted to melt into the general population and who are in possession of almost 5 full companies of Battlemechs. Thankfully, such large pieces of military equipment are hard to hide and the hunting infantry of the 3rd Crucis Lancers and 2 brigades of conventional infantry rushed to garrison the world find nearly 3 companies of the hidden Battlemechs. They are helped in this by not only the members of the civilian population but also the surviving members of the 14th Ghost both of whom are disgusted with the cowardice shown by the 15th Ghost. 
-----
 Previous Chapter - Return to Story Index - Next Chapter
0142, Chapter