Operation Higashikuni

Operation Higashikuni was Chandrasekhar Kurita's attack against the Ruins of Gabriel after he had discovered the hitherto secret Word of Blake asteroid base in the Odessa system. The same mission was previously referred to as Operation ANGEL REQUIEM in other sources, including references by Kurita's right-hand man Peter Abdulsattah himself, suggesting that Operation Higashikuni may (only) have been the preceding part of gathering of forces and intel.

The Operation Higashikuni event was played out as a scenario at GenCon 2007 under Catalyst Game Labs supervision (by what had previously been the FanPro Commandos), with the result declared to be fully canonical for the BattleTech universe. The player-run scenario unexpectedly ended in a victory for the Word of Blake defenders, however, upsetting CGL's projected Jihad timeline. Subsequent events were carefully selected so that the outcome would not impact the greater picture.

GenCon Event

To set up the GenCon event, players received a package of files including an 8-page excerpt of the treatise on The Hidden from the Jihad Conspiracies sourcebook, "Meeting Notes" from Peter Abdulsattah on the Consortium Emergency Board Meeting, under the auspices of Hachiman Taro Electronics and dated 12.03.71, as reported to Chanrasekhar Kurita (with a personal entry by Kurita himself attached), and annotated force briefs on the mercenary units involved in the operation.

Operation Higashikuni

Arcturus

see Turning Points: Arcturus for details

Through the infamous Bounty Hunter, Chandrasekhar Kurita had obtained Victoria Parrdeau's journal, which held many secrets that ComStar and the Word of Blake would prefer be left alone, including information on the five Hidden Worlds. In particular, Kurita was able to identify the Odessa system as the location of the "Ruins of Gabriel".

However, the Word of Blake made recovering the journal a high priority.

Kurita assembled his mercenary coalition on Arcturus in preparation for a strike against Gabriel. Intent on killing Kurita and reclaiming the journal, a strong Word of Blake invasion force spearheaded by the 40th Shadow Division (Word of Blake) attacked Kurita's forces on 11 May 3073. The attack met stiff resistance. Chandrasekhar Kurita was spirited off-world, and the Bounty Hunter also survived the onslaught. Having failed their mission, the Word of Blake forces withdrew on or shortly after 15 May.

Gabriel

Following the attack on Arcurus that had dealt considerable damage and pushed their ground forces to the brink of annihilation, the mercenary coalition still set out to attack the Odessa system (the suspected location of Gabriel) with naval support from the Lyran Alliance and Clan Wolf-in-Exile, hoping to draw out the Word of Blake defenders. The attack on 5 January 3074 indeed succeeded in revealing the location of the elusive Ruins of Gabriel, a naval base built into an ice moon or asteroid near Odessa IV, a gas giant at the extreme edge of the system.

However, after the Arcturus battle the Word of Blake had prepared for the fall of Gabriel. By the time of the attack, the base had been evacuated and stripped down, and the only remaining WarShip—a partially operable Naga—was destroyed in the fighting. The defenders managed to beat back the mercenary coalition, but nevertheless scuttled the base afterwards, poisoned the inhabited planet of Odessa with a bioweapon, and retreated.

Bibliography

• "Operation Higashikuni" player handouts/files
• Jihad Hot Spots: 3076
• Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents
• Jihad Turning Points: Arcturus