The Antares War of 3152

The Hinterlands: Part 1

Following the decimation of Clan Jade Falcon on Terra in 3151, what remained of the clan, dezgra, solahma, freebirths and provisional garrison forces, were left leaderless while the survivors of Khan Malvina Hazen’s War to conquer Terra remained stranded until the IlClan permits them to leave.

The vulnerability of the Falcons left behind was much worse than the similar circumstances a century prior in 3051. During the War for Terra, Khan Hazen stripped the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone of every Bloodnamed, Trueborn Warrior and every frontline battlemech, warship and aerospace fighter that she could pull in to her attack force. But, the other clans (except Clan Wolf) retained their full touman in place, the Inner Sphere empires were also fully adjusted to their Clan neighbors.

Following the ascension of the IlClan, the loser of the trial fell into ruin. Unlike the Wolf Empire, the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone, without leadership fragments and falls into becoming the Hinterlands.

What Remains

Two Jade Falcon states (almost three) organized in the wake of the battle for Terra in the former Jade Falcon Occupation Zone.

The first is the small Jade Falcon Cluster, under the leadership of Khan Jiyi Chistu. Khan Chistu is doing everything possible to buy time (sometimes at the cost of Jade Falcon Battlemechs) to rebuild his clan. He has been forced to forge a Touman from past-their-prime solahma, freshly graduated and green sibkos, a class of sibkos drafted from Clan Ghost Bear and various bondsmen.

The next is the Alynic Mercantile League. Far more stable than the nearby cluster led by Khan Chistu. The AML is a merchant caste led society of Jade Falcons. Their leader, Syndic Marena is taking the AML in an independent direction from the Jade Falcon Khan. Marena has developed an active partnership with the Merchant-led Clan Sea Fox.

The Horse Khans Cometh

Clan Hell’s Horses has been seizing systems in the coreward sectors of the Hinterlands since word reached Khan Amirault that the Falcons had failed their bid to become the IlClan. Sweeping Antispinward towards the Vesper Marches and Rimward towards the Tamar Pact, the Clan has grown to become the largest power in the Hinterlands.

The Turkina Ascendancy, a growing, recovering state under the elder solahma warrior Star Colonel M’oko had refused Khan Chistu’s call to consolidate at Sudaten, fell to the Horses on Barcelona during Operation Stampede. The Jade Falcon Cluster and the Alynic Mercantile League both proved much more resilient, resisting direct invasion.

The Horse Khans’ honor demanded those worlds. Once the “holdouts” were crushed, Clan Jade Falcon would truly be dead and it would be Clan Hell’s Horses that would be written into The Remembrance as the clan who slew them.

Operation: Flying Wedge

Galaxy Commander Silas Grimheald of Zeta Galaxy earned the honor of leading the Operation. Flying Wedge was conceived as a component to isolate and divide the Jade Falcon Cluster from the Alynic Mercantile League, focusing on the strategic objective of conquering the Antares system.

• The operation was designed to progress in three waves;
• Wave 1
  • Evciler System – I and II Cluster
    • Denizli
    • Apolakkia
    • Devin
    • Leskovik
  • Zoetermeer System – III Cluster
    • Leskovik
    • Baker 3
  • Vulcan System – IV Cluster
    • Leskovik.

The Wave 1 Primary objective is the conquest of the Leskovik system. Leskovik needs to fall since it can reinforce all of the Wave 1 objectives, and is a critical jumping off location for the invasion of Almotacen.

Almotacen: is the focus of Wave 2. Almotacen must fall before the invasion of Antares can even start. The bulk of the Wave 2 offensive will launch from Leskovik, using the Clusters, Trinaries and Binaries that best endured the Wave 1 invasions. The other forces will be in recovery and repair as garrisons at the Denizli, Apolakkia and Devin systems, holding the flank against counterattack from the AML.

Wave 3 realizes the goal of conquering Antares. The invasion of the system will launch from Almotacen. As an autonomous world and the site of a centuries-old SLDF facility that has been fought over and coveted for the past 100+ year since it was “re-discovered” by Clan Jade Falcon in 3050. Since finding itself suddenly independent of the Jade Falcons when Khan Hazen took her touman to Terra in 3151, Antares is poised to become a multi-system power in it’s own right.

Sadly, Hell’s Horses struck first.

Whether or not Antares survives, or becomes another system in the growing Hell’s Horses Empire remains to be seen.

The Defenders

The systems of Denizli, Apolakkia, Devin, and Baker 3 have at best planetary militias and hired mercenaries, hardly more than a speed bump for a Clan Invasion of the region. Leskovik is not a stranger to invasion from Clan Hell’s Horses. They have a long history of defending their world, even after a century of occupation by the Jade Falcons, Leskovik’s planetary militia has become very robust, so much so that when the 18th Falcon Regulars left for Terra, the Leskovik Defense Force “requisitioned” the second and third line ‘mechs, aerospace fighters, and armor to bolster it’s capacity.

Almotacen, formerly Stonarboi, has been a den of iniquity and vice. After the Jade Falcons left, the virtually undefended and ignored system was colonized by a Dark Caste band of former Jade Falcon, Steel Viper and Hell’s Horses dezgra. However, now they find themselves neighbors to the new Jade Falcon Khan and the target of an Invasion from Hell’s Horses. Normally, this would spell doom for any Dark Caste system caught in the middle of a Clan Occupation Zone. But history and War make for strange bedfellows and Khan Jiyi Chistu is desperate enough to give even exiles from the Bandit Caste a second chance as he rebuilds the Jade Falcons.

Khan Chistu’s sees very clearly what this threat means for his Jade Falcon Cluster. He has his very deep disagreements with Syndic Marena of the AML. But, that being said, they are both of the Jade Falcon and if they fall, it will mean the death of their history stretching back centuries. So, Khan Chistu needs Antares to hold. And if he can do that by giving the Dark Caste of Almotacen part of his supply of Battlemechs, he calls that an investment in defense.

Syndic Marena and her Alynic Mercantile League has done what the merchant caste has always done when their warriors have fallen short, she made trade agreements, forged alliances, and since she’s deep in the Inner Sphere, contracted with mercenaries. Marena believes she doesn’t need Khan Chistu, or the Jade Falcon Cluster for the AML to survive, or thrive even.

As Merchant Caste, Marena doesn’t believe in a zero-sum environment. For the AML to thrive, it does not need to destroy the Khan, or the Jade Falcon Cluster (like the Warrior Caste presumes). Marena can work with anyone, including Khan Jiyi Chistu, she just draws the line at being subordinate to a weaker rival, which is core to Clan Culture. The threat that the Hell’s Horses represent is one of subordination and assimilation.

The Denizli, Apolakkia, and Devin systems are within one jump of Twycross or Alyana. This is alarming for the AML and when the invasion begins, they will send several Mercenary companies (well paid Mercenary companies) to each system to bolster defense. However, the AML High Command in Alyana harbors no illusions as to any successful defense of any of these systems. They’re only slowing the Horse Khans down and forcing them to spend resources to secure the systems. Like the Jade Falcon Cluster, the AML recognizes the importance of Antares and will offer support to the Antares planetary government early.

The Wild Card

Clan Sea Fox commands the largest trade network operating in the Inner Sphere. With few exceptions, the Clan’s CargoShips travel freely along the jump routes of the Inner Sphere, crossing borders with little inconvenience. The Sea Fox also owns the HPG installations in the Free Worlds League and Wolf Empire, in addition, they also control several installations elsewhere (like the still functional HPG installation at Twycross. Finally, Sea Fox is also the governing body of the Mercenary Bonding Authority, a new organization directly competing with the centuries-old Mercenary Review and Bonding Commission.

While Clan Sea Fox remains carefully neutral in the political tensions in the Hinterlands, privately they have an interest in the survival of the Alyana Mercantile League. Sea Fox has the superior political and financial position over the Jade Falcon Merchant Caste in the AML, and can extract concessions to protect their assets. Thus, Sea Fox will provide material support to the AML, and Antares to resist the Horse Khans. This takes the form of directing the contracts of Mercenary companies into Antares and into the battle theater. Subsidizing both Antares and the AML to offer high compensation for mercenary services.

The largest secret kept is the HPG-B Class Generator. Antares Station is functional, and is in contact with the HPG Generator on Twycross. Use of this secret communication is tightly controlled until Sea Fox and Antares can reach an agreement about how the facility is to be used, but during the War it provides an communications lifeline directly between Antares and the AML.