FSRB Chpt 223

==The Federated Suns Reborn - Chapter 223==
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October-November - 3070Operation Harvest - Wave 4
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===Wave 4 of Operation Harvest - Status Report===
While the Protectorate Guard units who were in the field continued to resist strongly the Davion High Command at least had reports coming in that while the military forces were fighting hard the actual populations seemed less inclined to resist after the WOB troops had been defeated. Along with Caph which was now fully reintegrated into the Federated Suns progress was rapidly being made with Graham IV, Sirius, Keid, Zosma, New Earth, and Epsilon Eridani towards the same goal - particularly on Graham IV where the local government has already asked for admission to the FedSuns. The Lyran ambassador to the First Prince did meet with Princess Iris Davion and protest that the Lyran world's of New Earth and Zosma were not being handed over to the Lyran military but seemed to be being integrated into the FedSuns. The First Prince's wife promised the ambassador that she would pass on his protests to her husband. Which is the best that the ambassador is able to obtain from her. Despite the protests there is no change in the setting up of pro-Davion government's on the liberated worlds. Worse several worlds along the "border" are also seeing pro-Davion sentiment growing - particularly in the liberated worlds of the Lyon Thumb, Thorin and Murphid.
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Existing Operations
====Graham IV====
On the 18th of November and with work already begun upon the new Mitchel Vehicles (FS) plant to construct Shogun Assault class Battlemechs, the local government is notified that their request for admission to the Federated Sun's has been accepted. The beginnings of a Planetary Guard begins to be set up, for now consisting of some Blakist salvage and a lance of Watchmen Battlemechs donated by the AFFS. Promises are made that this lance will be augmented to at least a full company in the next few months - with most of the Battlemechs planned to be dispatched Legionnaires, Watchmen, or Sentries. 
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====Sirus====
The informally named "Battlegroup Avalon" continue to root out any remaining WOB troops while also starting work reconstructing the shattered city of Lost Hope. At the same time Marshal May is ordered to continue to exercise the 41st & 42nd Avalon Hussars RCTs and the 10th Deneb Light Cavalry RCT together and report back to New Avalon on his successes. This leaves the 2nd & 3rd Avalon Hussars as the primary forces to continue wiping out any remaining WOB forces. While lacking the elite status of the 41st & 42nd, the other two Avalon Hussar RCTs have proven themselves more than capable of this challenge and it allows them to continue gaining experience. Marshal May does request that the NAIS send scientists to look into the broken down terraforming equipment on Sirius VI. 
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====New Home====
Although the main continent remains largely pacified the Word of Blake infantry who escaped to the continent of Goldwynn continue to cause trouble out of proportion to their limited numbers. The 11th Avalon Hussars RCT is finally forced to request additional support in order to begin large scale sweeps of the agricultural regions of the continent in order to create clear zones. The Davion Heavy Guard's shift to join them on Goldwynn. While the Heavy Guards are ill suited to pursuing the enemy infantry, they are ideal for holding garrison posts and creating no-go areas for the WOB troops, which free's up other elements of the 11th Avalon for patrols and sweeps. Near the end of November the two RCT forces are joined by a specialist conventional brigade consisting of a light cavalry-VTOL armor regiment, battle armor battalion equipped largely with Infiltrator II battle armor and two regiments of jump infantry fresh from the occupied Capellan worlds of the League March. Precentor Brandeburg-Curi finds his options narrowing rapidly by the end of Wave Four.
Within the Great Spine Mountains of the continent of Spina Planetia the other Davion units continue to hunt down and destroy the handful of remaining WOB units which hadn't been destroyed in Wave Three. Blanc's Coyotes find themselves being placed into custody as reports from the locals begin coming in as to their brutal pacification methods. On the 23rd November, they are formally charged with war crimes. 
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====Keid====
The rebuilding of Keid City's spaceport speeds up with the arrival of two battalions of engineers (each equipped with a company of Jabberwocky engineering mech's). Surprisingly, the warriors of Clan Sun Jaguar's Beta Galaxy help with the rebuilding, sending for Daedalus class Industrialmechs from their enclaves in the Outback along with Tech and Laborer caste "engineers". Nobody is more surprised by this than the Nova Cats who report back to their Khans on the uncharacteristic behavior from the "Jaguars".
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====Procyon====
With the four Rapier destroyers operating near the coast of the island that the WOB have retreated too, the AFFS forces on the planet conduct a short combat "hop" to land on the beaches and secure them. The 5th Robinson Rangers RCT and 28th Avalon Hussars RCT's lead the way, supported by Zeta Battalion of Wolf's Dragoons. Having secured a landing zone the three commands push deeper into the jungles towards the Castle Brian that is now under constant air attacks, while the Alpha and I regiments of the 12th Vega Rangers and the 20th Avalon Hussars RCT follow on behind to secure their rear areas.
The defending WoB 20th Militia launched a few light spoiling attacks, but their casualties in these don't justify their limited gains. With the AFFS having full control over the skies any sortie they launch from the fortress is at risk of air attacks. Worse any sortie potentially opens up the possibility of the the AFFS seizing the exit used. With roughly only three combined arms battalions left the 20th Militia simply cannot afford to continue to fight on the surface and are forced to fall back within the Castle Brian. Led by Zeta Battalion the AFFS forces crash into the outer defensive works and begin the slow gradual process of reducing the outer works and turrets on the surface. Casualties begin to mount within the attack forces, but with superiority in numbers they are able to rotate troops from the fighting and repair damaged battlemechs and tanks. The AFFS troops also became experts at calling down airstrikes against turrets causing them particular problems. Battle armoured troopers also began attempting to infiltrate the Castle Brian using plans supplied to the AFFS by Clan Sun Jaguar.
The 20th Miltia soon found itself stretched thin defending the fortress. Castle Brian's had been designed to hold up to two full brigades of troops, so six full regiments plus supporting forces. At this stage the Militia's limited troops are stretched painfully thin. This overstretch is why on the 19th of November a squad of AFFS troopers in Infiltrator II class battle armour manage to find an unguarded entrance into the fortress and rapidly deploy to hold it while summoning reinforcements. Soon heavy fighting is ongoing across multiple levels of the fort. The Militia is still holding out by the end of November but the end is clearly in sight.
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====Zosma====
The 6th Robinson Rangers RCT finishes the last few sweeps of the local population without uncovering any additional WOB forces. At the end of November the pro-Davion government installed by the AFFS petitions the Federated Suns for membership. No mention is made of the fact that Zosma is still officially a Lyran Alliance world - with a representative within the Estates General.
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====Pollux ====
With the abandonment of the world by the 19th Militia any remaining resistance to the AFFS forces on the world is effectively negligible. Leaving the 4th Avalon Hussars RCT as a garrison and to help set up a pro-Davion civilian government Marshal Archer leads her own 5th Davion Guards, 3rd FedSuns Dragoons', and 39th Avalon Hussars off world.
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====Devil's Rock====
With the arrival of the 22nd Avalon Hussars RCT, 6th, 7th & 8th Chisholm Raiders LCTs from Zosma, they join the 2nd Davion Guards RCT and 2nd Ceti Hussars RCT from Keid in the turning the tide quickly against the defenders. The 1st Kathil Uhlans, 22nd Avalon Hussars RCT, and 2nd Davion Guards RCT are combined into an assault force supported by the two Northwind Highlander regiments on world. While the 1st & 2nd Devil's Rock Protectorate Guard Divisions had gained valuable combat experience during Wave Three, they were in no way prepared for the full scale assault that now fell upon them. The WoB 9th Militia was forced to take the brunt of this assault and held for roughly a week of heavy fighting, slowly falling back. However on the eighth day Precentor Alice Phuong's fighter is shot down attempting to prevent a bombing run on her command. With their commanding officer shot down, the Militia's organization crumbles and their slow retreat turns into a rout. The 1st Devil's Rock Protectorate Guard was already on the brink of collapse, under attack from Delta Galaxy and the 1st Woodstock Borderers, and with the rout of the 9th Militia they break and either surrender or flee along with the 9th Militia. The 2nd Devil's Rock Protectorate Guard, in better shape than their sister regiment and facing the 2nd Ceti Hussars RCT and the 1st El Dorado Tercio RCT hold out for an additional day, but when the three Chisholm Raiders LCT's swirl around their now open flanks and take them in the rear they join in the general collapse of the WOB forces on the planet.
The AFFS has such a superiority in numbers that they are able to pursue the retreating WOB troops relentlessly, often having a regiment or RCT fall back out of the pursuit, hurriedly refit and then jump ahead using dropships to rejoin the pursuit. Unable to disengage or even catch their breath the 9th Militia and the few Protectorate Guard units which are still with them finally are forced into a final stand on the 11th day since the AFFS launched their full scale assault. The fighting is short, but brutal and by the end of it the WOB troops have effectively been wiped out.
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====New Earth/Epsilon Eridani====
On both planets the standing garrison of AFFS troops continued the work of the now moved on ComGuards in rooting out any remaining WOB troops or sympathisers while stabilizing the planetary governments and economy. Work began on repairing the damage from the fighting and putting in place suitable civilian governments. On both planets the various military industrial facilities were also taken in hand and for the time being have their products diverted to the AFFS and ComGuards - although work was also beginning on how these facilities would be best managed moving forward.
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New Operations
====Castor====
Marshal Archer's 5th Davion Guards, 3rd FedSuns Dragoons and 39th Avalon Hussars RCTs fresh from conquering Pollux arrive in the Castor system on the 28th of October. The defending WoB 16th Militia had only a single scratch force of Protectorate Guard to aid them, mostly consisting of infantry with a handful of tanks and even less Battlemechs. Facing off against nearly three full strength RCTs, led by one of the famed Davion Guard units there were already reports from the 1st Castor Protectorate Guard of desertions.
With an extremely questionable allied force and with a strong enemy force inbound the Precentor in command of the 16th Militia decided that discretion was the better part of valor and ordered her units to withdraw to their dropships and head to Terra. She believed that the 16th Militia would be better utilized in the defense of the homeworld, over dying on the by now strategically irrelevant and isolated planet of Castor. She took with her roughly two combined arms Level IIIs worth of troops from the Protectorate Guard. With the most pro-WOB troops fleeing with the Militia the remaining members of the Protectorate Guard promptly surrendered as soon as the AFFS formations were entering atmosphere. 
With the remaining units of the 1st Castor Protectorate Guard surrendering there was little for the AFFS task force to do except secure the planet, take the surrendering troops into custody (with assurances of good treatment given their unwillingness to fight for the Blakists) and await further orders.
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===ComGuards Operations===
====Bryant====
At the beginning of November the High Command diverted the 2nd Dragonlords RCT from it's garrison posting on Shimonita to aid their ComGuard allies on Bryant - while diverting the 2nd Crucis Lancers RCT from Ashio to Shimonita in case any DCMS units got ideas about raiding the factory there. The 2nd Dragonlords although under strength were a veteran unit with strong battle armoured forces and were considered ideal for the combat conditions on Bryant. 
With the arrival of the 2nd Dragonlords, the ComGuard forces were able to mount much stronger and more aggressive patrols into the storm wrecked wastelands that made up much of Bryant's terrain. Additional blocking forces and ambush positions were also able to be maintained within the wastelands, further increasing the likelihood of catching the WOB troops either on the way or back from their raids or at the very least restricting their movements. Both allied forces are soon engaged in running fights in the very hearts of the storms, where a damaged battlemech or suit of battle armour means death. Both the ComGuards and AFFS maintain strong recovery forces tasked with attempting to withdraw any Mechwarrior or Battle Armor trooper that finds themselves stranded, but it's well known that their efforts are only partially successful. 
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====Alula Australis====
When the ComGuard 2nd and 4th Armies arrive on the 14th of October. They are not just bring fresh troops, but also they arrival with Precentor Martial Focht himself whom is to lead the fight. With sixteen of the remaining twenty-three Divisions of the ComGuard's now on the planet he has decided to take personal command of the largest concentration of his armies. Immediately upon arrival he orders that the orbiting warships begin to use their naval lasers and missile batteries to pound a large section of the enemy lines. While this destroying a large number of industrial facilities and mines, it blows a hole through the WOB lines into which he throws both the 2nd and 4th Armies. The 2nd is tasked with breaking through and then swinging south to push towards Cirebon, while the 4th Army does the opposite and swings north towards Leng-Kong. The 5th Army launches a general assault to keep the WOB troops facing them tied down while their comrades blast a hole and roll up the flanks of the WOB troops. 
With their positions facing total collapse the WOB 23rd Division (the bulk of which remains on the continent of Hume) attempts to reinforce the heavily engaged elements of their own command and the Alula Australis Protectorate Guard divisions facing the ComGuard's assault. Risking a combat "hop" using dropships from Hume to Locke they gamble that the ComGuards fleet and aerospace assets are too heavily engaged with supporting the breakthrough. The gamble fails.
As soon as orbiting satellites and dropships point out that the WOB is attempting to move the 23rd Militia, Focht orders the Warships CSV Narbonne and CSV Ranger of the 2nd Fleet which he brought with him to take up positions for orbital bombardment. At the same time he tasks several aerospace wings of the 5th Army to launch an interception mission. Between the two forces the 23rd Militia forces attempting to move to Locke are effectively destroyed. Of the three Level III units moving to the continent barely a single Level II manages to make landfall in an effectively destroyed Assault Triumph Class DropShip - most of the transporting troops and equipment were killed or destroyed in the crash. 
With their reinforcements destroyed the WOB troops on Locke however continue to resist furiously. However whenever they dig in to resist the advancing ComGuard's forces they are usually subjected to a barrage of pin point naval laser fire or a heavy warship grade missile being homed in on their position. Finally on the 22nd of November, the remaining WOB troops on Locke (soon followed by the other troops that are still based on Hume or Auroria disperse into the mountains and other remote areas to continue the war on a guerrilla basis. Some of the Protectorate Guard do surrender, however intelligence reports that of the roughly two division's worth of remaining Guard and the roughly Level III battalion sized force that is all that is left of the 23rd Militia more than two thirds go to ground.
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