Operation Raging Hellcat

## Prior to the events

Dread One Warlord Mokkat had come to a massive position of power within the Dread Ones, uniting at least a full third of the Dread One forces under his banner. Unlike many hobgoblins, Mokkat was able to keep his troops in line with a combination of proper discipline and admiration, unlike the typical mix of fear and violence. This was viewed at first as a very positive thing by both the Elven Union and Elven Empire, who opened diplomatic ties with the warlord in an attempt to pacify him and potentially recruit him and his forces as allies.

The situation turned fairly sour after Mokkat kidnapped the diplomatic crew and held them for ransom, which led the Terran Confederation to send the Legion Etrangere to perform a rescue operation. The mission was a resounding success, but antagonized Mokkat further as he moved the bulk of his military towards the Confederation's border.

## The Raging Hellcat

In response to the move, the Terran Confederation had to mobilize its 1st, 2nd and 3rd fleet to its Southern Galactic Border, away from their normal positions near the Protectorate Border. Commodore Antonio Velasquez prepared his troops for immediate conflict and requested additional support from Confederate allies. While Parliament were discussing the potential declaration of war and fund allocation to the military, Mokkat sent the DOS Hellcat, a "baby battleship", and its escort towards the colony of Star Yorkshire. The Confederate response took too long and the colony was pillaged, causing critical damage to its infrastructure and a large portion of the population being taken as slaves.

The DOS Hellcat kept moving in the Terran territory until it was caught by one of the first Interdictor frigate of the Confederation, who kept the ship pinned down long enough for the Confederate Spacy to destroy it. While the test of the new technology was a great success, it did outline an issue with the Confederate Spacy, namely that the lack of heavier vessels forced them to mass large amount of lighter ships, potentially putting more lives at stake, to take on even the smallest heavy ships from the enemy. This led to the Treaty of Centauri breaking Battlecruiser projects and the stretching of the rules as much as possible in upcoming ships.

At that time, Parliament had been under pressure by the Council of Peers and Senate (especially the Senators from Star Yorkshire) to declare war on Warlord Mokkat. Luckily for Parliament, the Elven Star Empire viewed the actions of Mokkat against Star Yorkshire as a threat as well, which led the Tiger Clan and Raven Clan to mobilise their Clan Guard to the Confederation, which facilitated the declaration of war. Baal'Ken mercenaries were also hired in large numbers, including a young Urist MaGrekor.

## A war that isn't one

While the Terran Confederation officially declared war against Mokkat's forces, they were officially the only nation to do so, which led this conflict to be regarded mainly as "police action" by the larger factions in the Known Universe. This did officially prevent the Confederation from capturing and holding any territory in the course of the operation, even though it did push back what was considered a neutral zone between them and the Dread Ones, expanding the Confederation territory by at least 4 Stellar Sectors in their Galactic South. As a police action, ships captured during fleet action were also to be given back to their original owners, which prevented the Confederation from acquiring some of the "baby battleships" that were so popular amongst the Dread Ones forces at the time, as those ships were to be sent back to the Empire, Union or Protectorate, which generally scuttled them or recycled them afterwards. This situation was a major setback for Confederate scientists and engineers, who had wanted to study the technology in those ships in order to develop their own heavy vessels.

On the other hand, this being "police action" did let Baal'Ken forces to be employed to great result, as an actual war would most likely have led them to being recalled by their Union overlords. Interspecies forces were very common against Mokkat, which led to great advances in combined arms formations and development of interspecies combat doctrines by the Terran Confederation, as well as making the Tiger and Raven Clan much closer to the Confederation then they were before.

## The capture of Warlord Mokkat and the end of the conflict

Mokkat was incredibly brilliant for a hobgoblin and unlike many of his peers, preferred to lead from the back. This made his elimination much harder for the united forces under Terran command, but after two years of fighting, Mokkat was isolated on a Class-L planet that he had used as a temporary headquarters for much of the conflict. After destroying the orbiting defence forces, the Terran-led coalition landed the equivalent of 9 full regiments on the planet to oppose the 2 regiment-sized troupe that Mokkat had at his disposition. As the assault was ongoing, Mokkat requested support from many of his allies, all of which, in typical Dread Ones fashion, refused to assist him. The battle ended with the capture of Mokkat and most of his senior staff, along with the collapse of his alliance.