Siege of Yadra

> ***"I told you I would return"***
>
>

> **-General Branicki, relieving the siege of Yadra-**
>
>

Ancient castles were turned into fortresses by the Karthemas

50,000 volunteers of the Commonwealth army

Branicki's relieving force:

4 million battledroids

1 million Minervan Spiders

100,000 combat mechs

## Commanders

### Commander of defending forces

-Count Kirnasas'Daness (2246/02/17-2246/08/15)-General Branicki (2246/08/15-End of the siege)

## Casualties

### Defender casualties

1 million dead Karthemas militia, 3 million wounded1300 dead Commonwealth volunteers 5600 wounded

600,000 battledroids

230,000 spiders

78 mechs

### Civilian casualties

Unknown, thought to be above 700,000

Weeks after the Commonwealth Conquest of Yadra and the retreat of the Commonwealth army due to the coming of the Biluan fleet, another battle was fought on the surface of the planet of Yadrani. Later known as the **Siege of Yadra**, this battle was fought between 2246/02/17 and 2246/09/15 between the Biluan mind and an alliance of forces from both the Commonwealth and the remains of the Kingdom of Yadra on the planet. It was the second land engagement fought during the Kartheman Liberation War, one that almost costed the Commonwealth its army. After the victory, the world of Yadrani was incorporated into into Commonwealth territory and modernized to the standard of most worlds.

Seen as one of the few defensive battles fought by The Commonwealth's forces, the "Siege of Yadra" saw skirmishes and battles between Biluan drones and the Karthemas militia, made of those knights and levies who had survived the Fall of Yadra and the following genocide at the hands of the Biliuan mind. As it happened with most siege battles, be it modern or in ancient times, the siege of Yadra was known not only for being bloodbath for both sides, but also a long struggle which lasted 7 months and saw many old castles and palaces from the the kingdom's ancient past being turned into fortresses by the Karthemas defenders.

The siege of Yadra is also famous for the promise General Branicki made to the Karthemas of the planet before leaving with the fleet. The general made the promise that, no matter what, he would return and push the Biluan back for good. A promise that made the man worthy of a statue in the citadel of Nol'Kabos where his army began the relief of the siege from.

## Prelude to the siege

### *A spent force, but not a dead one*

After the last pockets of Biluan resistance were annihilated by Branicki's forces during the Commonwealth Conquest of Yadra, the general tried to get a full report of the aftermath of the battle. While victorious, his forces could not remain in the planet. A large fleet of Biluan ships had entered into the system and, while they would still need a few days to arrive, there was still nothing Task Force Manticore could hope to do against them. Wielding superior weaponry and better ships, the Commonwealth's fleet was still severely outnumbered. Should they be destroyed over Yadrani, the victorious Biluans would be able to bombard General Branicki and his forces for as much as they pleased, then send their drones to devour their remains from under the rubble.

As much as he loathed to retreat, an evacuation was the only true choice left to the army and fleet. To do so however, was to leave all the recently-saved Karthemas to once more fend for themselves alone against the incoming invaders. This was not a fate anyone desired, be it in Ortus or in the army posted on Yadrani. Should Commonwealth forces leave and come back, there might be no Karthemas left to save. And even if they did, there was no reason why the survivors would greet them with open arms. Something needed to be done and fast.

General Telaviin, also in the army on Yadrani, proposed a solution to the problem. To speed up the evacuation, he left most of the heavy equipment, a good deal of ammunition and weapons to the Karthemas on Yadrani. Moreover, a force of volunteers was made to help the defenders out, as well as train them to better face the incoming assault. With these forces were the famous 37th Vanatori light infantry, a unit which had only a month ago fought to save civilians trapped in the mountains from the Biluan swarm.

(Note from the Schollars involved: "Maybe they were unwilling to leave behind the people they had fought so hard to save, maybe they just wanted to show their worth to the other regiments in the Commonwealth army. Either way, this regiment, alongside a mixture of other companies and even single squads, would stay behind and make sure the planet still stood when reinforcements arrived to relieve them.")

Last to take a ship out of Yadrani, General Branicki swore both to volunteers whom stood behind and the Karthemas defenders, that the Commonwealth would return to help them. Still, even the most optimistic knew that this help would not reach the besieged planet before a lot of blood was spilled.

### *Preparing the defenses*

Learning from what had happened on the previous battle, officers from the volunteer army began to reinforce those castles and palaces which still stood, quickly rebuilding others and turning them into fortresses more prepared for modern warfare. Towers were quickly equipped with artillery and heavy guns, walls reinforced and filled with holes and slits from which teams of newly armed Karthemas could shoot from.

Being the natural defense of the planet, and having only a few days to prepare, most of the defenses were readied on the mountain ranges and canyons, a place which most Karthemas survivors had grown almost fond of. Trenches and bunkers were built near mountain passes, caves filled with reserves of ammunition or turned into medical centers, and FTL communication centers made on the highest towers inside of mountains.

(Note from the schollars involved: Sadly for those in Task Force Adamantine (the communications branch of the commonwealth military), the mind quickly jammed most communcations and even worse broke the code used during the siege, this lead to the fall to a fortress known as Ban'ingal as well as the deaths of the thousand and fifty defenders inside of which.)

Quickly, a levy of nearly 8 million Karthemas militia was created. These banners were mostly led by ex-knights and lords, yet there were still some which allowed Karthemas who had shown courage and skill during the previous battle and even a couple who admitted human officers. These however, were the exception to the rule as not everyone was happy with the Commonwealth's arrival to the planet.

### Matters of command

Count Kirnasas'Daness, self-proclaimed blademaster of the remains of the Kingdom of Yadra's royal army, did not agree with Commonwealth officers taking command of the defense. After General Branicki and his army had left, the core of the defender army and the one's who would bleed the most defending Yadrani were the Karthemas, not the few thousand humans who had chosen to stay. Thus, the count felt it was only natural for him to be chosen to command the defense.

A furious debate ensued. While it was true that Kirnasas was the most senior high lord left in the planet, that did not mean he had performed well during the months following the Fall of Yadra. Taking the remains of his banner, he mostly refused to face the swarms, even when they attacked defenseless civilians who still tried to live in the lowlands. Focused only on protecting his own men and servants, and lacking the combat experience other Karthemas commanders had, he was not seen as the best choice to lead the defense.

Despite this, the Karthemas still followed their caste system and were unwilling to refuse the orders of a superior. Relenting, officers of the Commonwealth agreed to give the "blademaster" command of the defense, but only after promising he would heed the council of advisers, both Karthemas and human. The first Biluan ships could already be seen over the planet's orbit, so it was time to focus on the real threat coming for them.

(Note: Kirnasas'Daness, known as colloquially as KD to the Commonwealth volunteers, was indeed a military sargent during the Fall of Yadra, yet he was never a lord and some theorize he was never even knighted. Some later Karthemas scholars suggest, that he was in fact a lover to one of the many princesses of the kingdom or even a concubine who used what power he had to gain a comfy seat in the generalship. He was however, nonetheless, a great warrior, though was also called a 'piss-poor manger of finances' as a large amount of money was embezzled during the Siege.)

## The siege

### Clear skies

To the surprise of both Karthemas and human defenders, there was no orbital barrage or aerial strike before the assault of the first wave of invaders. With the Biluan fleet chasing after Task Force Manticore, the siege of Yadra would only be fought between two land armies, a rare sight in a 23rd century war.

Scores of anti-air batteries greeted these first Biluan ships, turning many into burning wreckage falling from the sky. In some areas, the fire was so intense only few scorched pieces of ship and Biluan corpses managed to make planetfall, yet these were mostly rare occasions.

Untrained in the use of these new weapons and with only a few volunteers to aid them, most Karthemas crews failed to hit their targets, only managing to slow down the Biluan's landing for a few hours at most, while the defenders readied themselves for battle.

The palace of the Darkleniss, one of the noble families which had become extinct after the Fall of Yadra, was one of the first places attacked by the invaders. While less defended than other fortresses, it still was surrounded by a wide network of trenches and hastily-made bunkers, the tall, black towers of the building now turned into spots for snipers or even howitzers. 1000 Karthemas militia, 30 knights and half a squad of humans from the Commonwealth's engineer corps held this place, leaving not a corner of it undefended as the Biluan hoards arrived. For ten days, they would push back wave after wave of combat drones, sometimes sallying out to stop the attackers before they could build forward positions or bring artillery close.

As the tenth day neared its end and with less than a 100 still breathing, the defenders of the palace sent one last surprise attack to flee to friendly lines. Only one member of the Commonwealth's engineer squad managed to reach defender lines to tell the tale, one Dijstra Mackword.

(Note: Nobody will know exactly what transpired at the palace of Darkleniss, as by the time the palace was captured it had become a smoldering ruin from which only a single tower stood even barely standing. Additionally, scholars view Dijstra's account to be flawed as later digs at the site seem to show the defenders having taken their own lives after Biliuan reinforcement, yet the digs are ongoing.)

### Rats of war

The palace of the Darkleniss was only one of many strongpoints held by the defenders during the siege of Yadra. Aside from a few which were quickly evacuated or overwhelmed by Biluan drones due to the lack of effective defenses or no strategic value, most old and new castles managed to keep the swarm back, causing a high number of casualties within hoards after each successive assault on the strongpoints.

The mind however, is no idiotic beast who attacks again and again expecting somehow a different result. Over the following weeks, combat swarms began to try all manner of different tactics to take fortresses and trenches, the most infamous of which were the beginning of the tunnel wars under Yadrani's surface.

A kind of warfare first used by human beings some thousands of years ago, both during ancient times and the Renaissance, tunnel warfare was a costly affair. Every time the soil was soft enough, teams of Biluans would dig tunnels to reach beyond enemy walls and trenches, or prepare a subterranean mine to blow up a particularly-strong Karthemas position. To counter this, specialized militia times prepared counter-tunnels, laid traps and many times fought in the darkness, using only swords and daggers as the risk of gas made firing a gun.

(Note: These tunnels varied in size, being barely enough to have a human walk through, to large caverns that entire battles where fought inside of, like the particularly nasty battle of Na'Eib, in which a small tank battalion was mustered to defend an entire Biliuan hoard which collectively dug a cavern so large it was latter used to build the Commonwealth designed city of Na'Eib. One, which is now a tech hub which the science council frequents.)

The war soon became one of attrition, with the swarm taking one fortresses after another at the cost of thousands of combat drones each. The count, the previously mentioned Kirnasas'Daness, ordered the forts to be held to the last drop of blood, yet these commands were often "lost" as Commonwealth officers tried to prevent useless last stands which would drain the defending force from much needed soldiers and weaponry.

At the end of the first month, nearly 1 million Biluans had been killed, with 300,000 Karthemas and 400 volunteers sharing the same fate.

### Luci'nad stands

Placed at the hedge of a cliff and standing guard on one of the few roads leading into the mountain ranges of Yadrani was Luci'nad, the "Tower of Snow". Built hundreds of years ago by a mad duke of name unknown, the fortress was divided into sections, one holding the pass, the other mixing with the nearby mountain until nobody could see were Karthemas-made rock ended and that made by nature started.

Since the end of the first month, and the fall of those fortresses on the road to it, the the Biluan forces had focused many of its armies to bring down the white walls and towers of Luci'nad. Since tunnels were nearly impossible to make and airborne assaults a sure suicide due to the narrow nature of the passage, the battle for Luci'nad was a "standard" war of attrition, one which would last almost until the end of the siege.

Defended by a force of knights 500 strong, 6000 militia and the full regiment of the 37th Vanatori, Luci'nad was a tough nut to crack for any army, let alone one that focused primarily in barbaric swordsmanship such as the Biliuan hoards. Many a soldier would have at least thought twice before making an assault, yet the Biluan combat drones were not creatures which seemed to understand fear or danger. Silent like ghosts, they came at the fortress like a battering ram, their artillery sometimes firing even with drones climbing up the walls and towers.

Even when the main wall defending the pass was turned into rubble, Karthemas and humans continued to fight, firing and slicing at their assailants before taking cover behind what was left of towers hundreds of years old. Twice the defenders were nearly pushed back, only for the count to send reinforcements to help them push the Biluans back. While not a genius when it came to warfare, Kirnasas still understood the importance of the place, if only for the amount of Biluans attacking it at once. After the second month of the siege, the attackers were starting to use their own dead as ladders quite effectively, forcing the defenders to send squads to explode or burn the frozen, Biluan corpses under heavy fire.

Seeing that the defense of this location was at risk, the count himself decided to move his command post to the fortress. While still lacking in command skills, the count's mere presence managed to inspire the Karthemas defenders to keep fighting, even after he lost an eye and a finger due to the deadly fragments of rock which shot flew like shrapnel every time a shell landed on the mountain.

### Slow and steady

After the fourth month was done, Kirnasas and those officers still living began to be aware of one, horrible fact: While they were keeping back the Biluans, they would not be able to do so for much longer. Food reserves had always been low during the siege, even with Commonwealth help. More and more soldiers were needed for missions to find supplies, resulting in raids of markets and the countryside resulting in the starving of cities who couldn't spare the food needed for the troops, even as a hundred Karthemas civilians died every day from hunger instead of Biluan fire.

At that moment, tensions rose again. The count demanded the human volunteers to tell him where were the reinforcements Branicki had promised so long ago. Commonwealth officers shot back, calling the count an incompetent fool which was wasting much needed resources and nearly handing the Biluan their victory on a silver platter.

It was only thanks to the intervention of another volunteer (this one from the medical units) that the situation did not bring a bloody war within the allies' ranks. Carice Helstein, leader of the medical teams in Yadrani and well respected even by Karthemas soldiers, scolded both sides. There was a war going on, one which had already taken the lives of millions of soldiers and civilians. Officers, both human and Karthemas, had been given the power and trust to prevent more deaths, to keep the Biluan back. There was no time for blaming or hunting down scapegoats. Either they learnt to cooperate and fight as one army, or Carice herself would take command and fight the Biluan head-on in her best dress.

Aside from scolding her superiors, Carice proposed a solution to the hunger crisis. Talking with many of the civilians under her care, she had learnt of deep cave systems near the front which could be used to grow the fungus so much liked in Ortus. Moreover, there were rumors of still-virgin mountains deep within the mountains, places where animals and plant life could still be used as food and crops grown. This strategy was a long-term one at first and still hundreds of Karthemas would die before the first mushroom could be turned into a meal, yet at least it would bring renewed hope to the defenders, something they lacked even more than they did food or ammo.

The count changed much after that talk. Some say that, with her fine dress and commanding tone, Carice reminded him of his long-dead wife, or a lover he had lost decades ago. Either way, the count and the officers finally agreed to cooperate in full and make the Biluan bleed seas of blood for every rock and bush they took.

And so, for what felt like an eternity, the line continued to be held. Ammo and guns began to run out, the number of wounded soldiers now almost matching that of those still untouched. With fire engulfing the mountains, it seemed that by the end of this battle, only rubble would remain of the once-proud mountain ranges.

## Branicki keeps his promise

In 2246/08/15, Task Force Adamantine got a transmission after months of nothing but silence. The message was only a sentence, yet it was still enough to make the survivors cheer and look up with hope at the skies. Soon enough, the first ships were spotted, landing on the back of the battered Biluan armies to unleash hordes of battledroids, roaring Minervan spiders and towering mech soldiers armed to the teeth. The message came from General Branicki himself::

"I told you I would return"

Trapped between a wall and a hard place, the bloodied, spent remains of the Biluan army were no match for the sheer firepower and ferocity of Branicki's vanguard and the counter attack of the defenders of Yadrani. Sailing out of their fortresses, knights and levies slammed into the Biluans, cutting them down in droves as the mind tried to face two foes at once. In Luci'nad, for the first time in months, Karthemas and human soldiers were the one's to rush forwards, climbing piles of Biluan dead as they fired on their foes or ran them through by way of their pikes.

Still knowing this phase would be a delicate one of the war, General Branicki demanded complete control of all allied forces on the planet. To his surprise, the count gave it to him without protest. Knowing full well, that had served his purpose, and would retire from the battle.

One month after arrival, the last pockets of Biluan soldiers were crushed and much needed supplies given to the starved population. There was still a Biluan fleet threatening the planet and untold numbers of Biluan warriors could be waiting to be sent to Yadrani to take the planet once and for all. Due to this, Branicki did not waste time with celebrations, instead reinforcing once more the planet's defenses as he prepared for an attack which, as it turned out, would never come. The fleet would throw their shells, the last Biluan attack to Yadrani in history, right before being cut down by Task Force Manticore.

(Scholarly Note from the Inquiry office, cited from Scholar Mont Squirelandr : It is unknown exactly what happened to Kirnasas'Daness after the arrival of Branicki, with some even thinking he later joined the Yadrin Kingdom during the Great Southeastern War, yet, nobody was able to find out. Not even the normally reputable Commonwealth cyphers where able to find the man, yet I for one believed the words of the, "Blademaster of Fal'Kaboss". He told me a story, that old sage did, of an old spirit from ancient times named Rel'Heimgald who slew dragons in the name of the first king of the Yadra line, and that he was in fact a construct made by the king to serve the empire when it was needed most, and even hand off the reigns of power to the empire who deserved to conquer it next.

While, most scholars speculate the truth of the story, the sword given to me by the Blademaster is the exact same one the Branicki was given to slay the 'hoardlord' of the mind and one which was given reportedly back to the count after the battle. Branicki also swears it was the same sword, leaving the truth to be somehow stranger then fiction.)

## Aftermath

After the siege of Yadra, the planet and its people began the slow process of conversion from a Techno-feudal society to a more "modern" one based on the principles of the Commonwealth. While this would turn out to be a long and rocky road, the Siege of Yadra facilitated in some way the integration of many Karthemas to the Commonwealth, if only for the aid given by both Branicki and the volunteers who had fought and died for the planet.

Fortresses like Luci'nad would be left unchanged after the war to serve as monuments and museums for those wanting to learn of the struggle of Yadrani and its people.

Meanwhile, the creation of the tunnels and mines dug out during the conflict also helped the constructions of new cities created on the templates used on Ortus and other planets in the Commonwealth. Some scholars even make arguments that, like the Black Death, it made the Karthemas stronger fallowing the Siege because of there lowered numbers and increased fertility fallowing most wars.

Yet, the damage was done, and while the lives of around 1.8 million people from the Commonwealth or the kingdom of Yadra would perish, the planet would very much so have a Second Chance.