1077th Tank Regiment

It is difficult for any outsider to truly  understand the significance of Tai-Kalnet to the Banthurrian species. Outwardly, it is  merely a small moon, hardly unique when compared to the untold millions of similar such planetoids  encountered across the galaxy. Yet at one time, when on a primitive world in a distant part of  the galaxy, the roman senate was debating on whether they should abandon their capital,  the interstellar Banthurrian Empire brought their greatest treasures here, relics and trophies taken from their enemies. The Banthhurrian Warrior Khans measured themselves by those they had fought  against, and these objects were treated with such reverence as to be almost holy. Statues of Ti-Zru  gods taken during the siege of their Throne World, Screk Obelisks captured during the battle of  Vollonis and even the corpses of insectoid drones, supposedly the vanguard of a vast  swarm slowly approaching from dark space.

Even when their Empire collapsed into a chaotic  storm of rival fiefdoms and petty despots, the sanctity of Tai-Kalnet and the curates who  held it, was universally respected. Many aspiring warlords attempted to place their own trophies  here, yet none were considered worthy. The figure that would come to be known as the Great Khan was the first to triumph here in an age, and while it remains unknown what item he  offered that was accepted into the Tai-Kalnet, the affirmation of the curates was  enough to form the Baanthurian Khanate.

The victories of the Great Khan brought a renewed  stream of trophies to the moon of Tai-Kalnet, but his defeat transformed it entirely.  While its significance has remained, today it exists within the Commonwealth of  Vi-Talas, a state created by its liberators. As one of the largest collections of artifacts  from across the galaxy, it has attracted every manner of historian and enthusiast, and become  infamous for the lengths they must go through to  enter even its outermost holds. The Prime Minister  of Antares, the Archpriest of the Spirits, even the High Chancellor of Vi-Talas itself, all have  been, publicly and embarrassingly denied access. Yet by the decree of the last Great  Khan of the Banthurrians, there are some permitted unrestricted entry, to walk among  the collections as if they were his emissaries.

Among those free to enter the Tai-Kalnet  are the descendants of Liliana Reyes and the 99 Named of Melaka, all sailors  assigned to any ship that bears the name Pursuer, and every member, former and  current of the 1077th Tank Regiment. As one of the most decorated and renowned  units in the Antares Armed Forces, and its special status within many different  cultures across the Commonwealth, the 1077th’s history is a unique blend of verifiable  fact overlaid with near-mythic significance. The unit traces its lineage to the 65th Tank  Battalion, activated in 265AL as part of the wider military buildup and reorganization undertaken  by the Confederate Army during the Vrul War. The 65th quickly became known as the “Excellent  Extracts” for the presence of officers and soldiers from every republic within its ranks. It  consisted at this time of three tank companies, a service and headquarters company, and  was assigned to the 7th Armoured Division.

The Battalion took part in the liberation of Torix  but disintegrated as a functional unit during the disastrous orbital landings across the planet,  which scattered the 65th’s component elements across the entire theater of operations.  Nevertheless, at least one tank company from the 65th Battalion fell under the command  of Colonel Talik Salah al-Din and took part in the legendary counter-attack and encirclement  of the Vrul resistance. According to the unit’s own internal history, Colonel Salah al-Din led  the final attack from one of the 65th’s tanks, after his own vehicle was rendered inoperable  by enemy fire. Given every armored unit within the modern Commonwealth Army, as a matter  of tradition makes these same claims, modern historians do not take these supposed accounts  more seriously than those of any other unit.

The 65th Tank Battalion was inactivated three  years after the Liberation of Torix in 271AL, only to be then reactivated as the 65th Tank  regiment at the outbreak of the First Beldross War in 306AL. It deployed with the 24th Armored  Division as part of the invasion of the Beldrossi world of Thisac and remained there as part of the  Confederate garrison until the war's conclusion in 320AL.

In one notable incident, soldiers from the unit were caught stealing a kind of alien beehive, and the 65th adopted the nickname “The Honeysuckers” as a result. Twelve years later in 332AL, the unit  participated in Operation Chromatica: the liberation of the homeworld of the Cloister  of the Spirits from the Anthorian Empire. Despite its participation in the major campaigns  of the Antares Confederacy, it was during the Banthurrian Invasion, also known as the War  of the Great Khan, that the regiment would earn its legendary status. At the time of the  declaration of war, the 65th had been redesignated the 304th Tank regiment and assigned to the  15th Infantry Division on the world of Ariane. It had become known as the “Bird Catchers” in the  intervening time, after its commanding officer was apparently attacked by a rhumdaran cardinal during  training maneuvers. It was made up at this time  of 4 tank companies, each equipped with  18 modern Salah al-Din main battle tanks, and a Command and reconnaissance company  with 12 Takoba armoured fighting vehicles.

The unit was hurriedly redeployed to the frontier  colony of Melaka and again redesignated as the 1077th Tank regiment, initially intended as  a temporary name, but the one it would be permanently assigned thereafter. As the scale  of the unfolding military disaster became apparent to the Confederate units stationed on the  planet, the 1077th was moved into the foothills surrounding the capital city of Jost. Its intended  role was to counter-attack the leading Banthurrian landing elements before they could properly  consolidate, but was left out of position when the invasion finally began. It instead  disrupted several smaller Banthurrian landing zones and logistical elements, before  withdrawing into the center of Jost itself.

Over the next six months the 1077th became  a critical component of the city’s defense. Its tanks became highly valuable for their use as mobile bunkers in a rapidly shifting defensive line. Their crews developed a number  of unorthodox tactics, including disguising their tanks as inactive wecks and hiding them within the urban rubble. During one notable ambush, the Regiment’s Charlie company managed to destroy an enemy frigate providing ultra-low fire support over Yost’s spaceport. In another, vehicle  elements from its Delta and Alpha companies decimated a convoy of Banthurrian armoured walkers  attempting to scale the besieged Liu-Banh Tower. Over the course of the fighting, the 1077th began  absorbing surviving personnel and vehicles from destroyed Confederate units, maintaining and then exceeding its initial fighting strength.

The last major offensive action undertaken by the regiment as a whole was the Battle of Gretchen Stein Park. With  declining ammunition and fuel reserves,  a final charge was made into the Banthurian lines. The action destroyed several elite enemy formations, including the so-called  “Herald of the Khan”, but left the 1077th with only a fraction of its vehicles and no  means to transport them more than a few miles.

After the death of General Reyes,  the 1077th led the last remnants of the Confederate defenders in a final stand at  Discovery Plaza. It was destroyed to a soldier after 30 hours of intense fighting. Unaware of  the colony’s continued resistance, the 1077th had already been removed from the Confederate  Army’s active units some four months earlier. It was not until well after the war, when the  archives of the fallen Khan began to be translated that the role of the 1077th in the Fall of  Melaka was understood by the wider Confederacy.

As a unit that had won the deep  respect and admiration of both sides, the reactivation of the 1077th Tank regiment in  400AL, became a symbolic point of reconciliation between the Antares Confederacy and the newly founded Commonwealth of Vi Talas. The 1077th participated in every  major conflict for the next century. It charged across plains of burning ash during  the campaign to liberate the Anthonians, and smashed through the walls of the Imperial  Palace during the Second Battle of Xandaree. In each campaign it acted  with dignity and restraint, and became a focus of Confederate propaganda  efforts in the subsequent eras of rebuilding.

By the time the Antares Confederacy  had rejected the demands of the Screk, the empire that subjugated Earth, the 1077th had become an almost ceremonial unit. While its soldiers were some of the  most experienced in the armed forces, there was some concern that such a prominent  force might be destroyed in battle and its loss might represent a significant moral  defeat. It was the Baanthurian population of Antares that assayed these reservations, and  the 1077th would see action during the invasion of the Font of Knowledge itself, serving  again under the 24th Armoured Division.

The regiment’s famous attack through the ruined skyway of the Screk throneworld reinvigorated public interest in the unit. But it was during  the war against the Greater Terran Empire that the 1077th again reached the heights it had first  achieved on Melaka. According to popular legend, in the days leading up to the invasion, the  Regiment was invited to take part in a ceremony on Tai-Kalnet. This was supposedly a final  act of rapprochement between Antares and the Banthurrian people, an offer extended only to the  antecedent units from the Fall of the Melaka and the War Against the Great Khan. While the Antares  Armed forces have never commented on the matter, leaks suggest that those in attendance promised  to uphold a unique kind of Banthurrian chivalry, swearing oaths before the recovered Throne of the Great Khan himself.

During the invasion of the UTE, the 1077th  Tank Regiment again distinguished itself during the landings across Sigma Draconis, Procyon and Sirius. It fell at this time under the  command of Colonel Chatri Boqor, described by his contemporaries as “one of the most hated  men in the Commonwealth Army”. Blunt, cold, and often rude, Boqor had developed a reputation among  outsiders for his seemingly xenophobic behavior, he was frequently intolerant and suspicious  of the Antares Commonwealth’s allies. This however, was likely a misinterpretation of  Boqor’s behavior towards everyone, and those that  served with him would later reveal that he  was equally intolerant and suspicious of the Antares military itself. A famous remark by a Vrul  company commander that served under him alleged that “Boqur is the most even-tempered person in the Commonwealth army: he is always in rage”.

Despite this notoriety, Boqor is considered today one of the most brilliant field officers in Antares history, outmaneuvering and destroying  Terran formations many times his own Regiment’s size. His penchant for riding personally aboard  his lead tank, directing the movements of the Regiment through outlandish insults and colorful  language, earned the deep respect of his soldiers. It was during the climax of the Battle of Earth  however, that Colonel Boqor entered into the upper pantheon of the Antares Pantheon of military legends for his refusal to obey orders. Directed to advance into a zone of questionable tactical value in which significant civilian casualties would have been unavoidable, Boqor instead repeatedly refused to carry out the attack,  before riding into division headquarters, arresting at gunpoint the Major General who had ordered the attack. His implementation of the  Commonwealth Code of Values and Ethics is credited with saving over 40,000 lives, including that of  future United Nations of Earth General Secretary Holly Clifford. It is still widely studied  today in Commonwealth military academies.

In the modern Commonwealth Army, the 1077th is  one of the few “permanent units”, never to be disbanded under the direct order of the Office  of the Prime Minister. While the equipment with which it has been outfitted, the composition  of its companies, and the names of its officers has changed across the centuries, it has carried  with it an unwavering record of professionalism and dignity. Its legacy of service has granted  the 1077th unique traditions both in its conduct and uniform. It is the only unit not required to stand for the anthem of the Anthorian Republic, the only unit allowed to wear the ceremonial crystal swords of the Cloister of the Spirits, and most famously, one of the few to ever  enter the archives of the Tai-Kalnet.

It maintains alliances not only with a myriad  of other units across the Commonwealth Army, Navy, and Pioneers, but also those  of Earth and dozens of other nations. And on all too many worlds can be found monuments dedicated to the soldiers that filled its ranks, memorials ranging from simple  markers to grand archways or plazas. Reminders to the citizens of the galaxy that no matter how dire the circumstances, how terrible the foe, there will always  be those ready to confront tyranny in all its forms, and the tanks of the 1077th will be at the forefront, leading the charge.