343rd Adder Sentinels (Clan Star Adder)

Clan Star Adder.jpg
343rd Adder Sentinels
Disbanded 3073 (Destroyed)
Affiliation Clan Star Adder
Parent Command Tau Provisional Galaxy
Gamma Galaxy (previous)


History[edit]

Burrock Absorption[edit]

The 343rd served as a reserve for Gamma Galaxy on Priori, during the Burrock Absorption. During the battle, the unit was surprised by the attacks from Clan Blood Spirit and lost many good warriors. The Command lance suffered nearly eighty percent casualties in the fighting. The new commander had the difficult task of rebuilding the unit with new warriors fresh from the sibkos in 3059. [1]

Wars of Reaving[edit]

In late 3069, the Blood Spirits were expanding their holdings in the Homeworlds, looking in part to obtain additional resources for their hidden settlements on Honor and Haven. Khan Karianna Schmitt led the Blood Spirit Alpha and Iota Galaxies to Albion, intent on seizing the Star Adder holdings there. The Eighty-seventh Dragoons managed to hold the Star Adder enclave at Junction City until the end of the year before falling, outlasting the 343rd, who had been defeated defending the nearby Chrysaor manufacturing facilities soon after the Blood Spirits landed.[2]

The 343rd was still on Albion when the HPG network collapsed in early 3072. Forces from the Dark Caste and Clan Coyote arrived soon after, capturing the main Star Adder DropShip and aerospace facilities, which were located near Athens. The Coyotes and Dark Caste then isolated Albion with a naval blockade to cut Albion off from the other Homeworlds, destroying any vessels that entered the system. The bulk of the Dark Caste forces then left Albion in early 3073, other than a contingent based in Athens who launched waves of attacks, primarily at the Blood Spirit and Clan Cloud Cobra holdings on the planet, devastating them until the only remaining Cloud Cobra possession was a small enclave at New Bergen, where the Cobra's Hydaspes are stored. The Cobras had absorbed several thousand Blood Spirit civilians from the enclave at Ives, which had been firebombed, and had them working in the mines outside New Bergen.[3][4]

Two Star Adder WarShips - the York-class destroyer Nebulous and the Vincent-class corvette Hertzog's Staff - were deployed to Albion by the Cloud Cobras along with a small merchant convoy, to scout the system and assist with the rebuilding of New Bergen. The Star Adder personnel on Albion were starving by this point and had approached the Cloud Cobras for assistance, but the Cobras had little resources to share and couldn't help.[4] When Blood Spirit forces in the form of Omega and Omicron Galaxies along with the recently repaired Aegis-class CBS Exsanguine, arrived with the intent of attacking the Star Adders, the Nebulous and Hertzog's Staff were still in orbit. Rather than battle the two Cloud Cobra WarShips, the Blood Spirits bargained down the Trial to a duel between Stars of aerospace fighters from the Cloud Cobra Beta Reserve and the best of Omega Galaxy's fighters. The Blood Spirits were ultimately victorious and went on to attack the Star Adders at Indicass Alpha and Beta.[5]

Dropping swiftly onto the Star Adder holdings at Indicass Alpha and Indicass Beta, Omicron Galaxy was unprepared for the appearance of almost four Clusters of Star Adder ProtoMechs to defend the smaller Indicass Beta site. Galaxy Commander Darrin Keller acted quickly, inflicting heavy damage on the 1114th Gatekeeper Cluster, capturing warehouses and storage facilities full of badly-needed resources. Keller waited for a week before leading Omicron Galaxy to Indicass Alpha, which housed nearly a million civilians at this point. Despite the Dark Caste attacks, Indicass Alpha was still the site of a number of BattleMech and battle armor factories and associated industries, and the Star Adders fought a fierce defense to retain the enclave.[5]

The 286th Adder Sentinels launched a flanking attack as Omicron Galaxy approached the city, plowing through the Twenty-second Blood Cavalry, before being pinned down by the Twenty-first Crimson Guards and destroyed. The Ninety-eighth Crimson Guards were the first to enter the city, passing the remains of the Star Adder police cordons and clashing with the remaining Star Adder forces; those defending forces, led by the 343rd, fell back further into the city, taking the civilians with them. When the Star Adders made a stand near a large OmniMech facility, the Ninety-eight realized they'd been drawn into a trap; hordes of armed civilians rose up to attack the Guards, and as Star Colonel Nad Johns attempted to strike out eastwards towards the main city DropPort, the Star Adders collapsed more than twenty city blocks onto the Blood Spirit forces. More than seven thousand civilians died and the dropping buildings buried many of the Guards' 'Mechs in a disaster that caused Keller to halt Omicron's advance.[5]

The Star Adders took advantage of the sudden pause, with their last Binary of aerospace fighters conducting a low-level bombing run that threw hundreds of tons of bombs at the First Blood Cavalry and Keller's Command Trinary. The Blood Spirits engaged the Star Adder aerospace fighters with their own fighters, and the brutal dogfight that ensued left just three surviving Blood Spirit pilots. Keller ordered a full retreat from Albion; when the remaining Blood Spirit forces had left the surface of the planet, Keller then ordered the Exsanguine to bombard Indicass Alpha, and then Indicass Beta from orbit, destroying both. The Blood Spirits then left the system.[5] Having learned of the presence of the Dark Caste at Athens after the arrival of the Blood Spirits, Star Admiral Robert Spaatz had the Nebulous and Hertzog's Staff bombard the site from orbit.[6]

Officers[edit]

Rank Name Command
Commanding Officers of the 343rd Adder Sentinels
Star Colonel Kahlil 3059
Star Colonel Kahlil Shi-Lu 3067[7]

Tactics[edit]

Unknown.

Composition History[edit]

3059[edit]

3067[edit]

343rd Adder Sentinels (Veteran/Reliable)[7]

  • CO: Star Colonel Kahlil Shi-Lu
- At this point the 343rd was stationed on Albion and was operating at four-fifths of full strength. Most of the 343rd's equipment used Clan technology, but not all, and a tenth of the 343rd's troops were equipped with Omni-technology.[7]

Notes[edit]

  • It is not clear which Galaxy the 343rd was originally from.

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p.133
  2. The Wars of Reaving, p. 43, "The Hellion Plan"
  3. The Wars of Reaving, p. 122-123, "The Defamation of Albion"
  4. 4.0 4.1 The Wars of Reaving, p. 123, "Albion Crumbles"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The Wars of Reaving, p. 122, "The Defamation of Albion"
  6. The Wars of Reaving, p. 123, "Albion Crumbles"
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Field Manual: Updates, p. 74, "Tau Provisional Galaxy"

Bibliography[edit]