Solaris Home Defense League

Solaris Home Defense League
Formed	3070
Affiliation	Solaris
Parent Command	Independent

The Solaris Home Defense League, sometimes known as SHDL was the organized movement of Solarian inhabitants (mostly the arena gladiators) that grouped together to expel the Word of Blake forces that had conquered Solaris VII.

History

The genesis of the Solaris Home Defense League can be traced to the Blakist invasion of Solaris VII.

The Blakists arrived on 10 June 3068 and their Twenty-fifth Division overpowered the Solaran defenses (no formal unit was there, and the invasion force only faced various stables, overwhelming them all). Even worse, Bromley Stables led by Thaddeus Bromley and several smaller Marik-sponsored stables sided with the invaders, believing the Word of Blake was taking the world for the Free Worlds League.

The invasion sparked off a round of riots worse than those waged between Lyran and Davion loyalists during the FedCom Civil War. The Word let the combatants fight it out unless they threatened Blakist objectives, in which case they did intervene. Violence calmed, and finally the Word moved in and seized stable compounds, corporate assets, and other key facilities.

This was the point where varying factions moved towards an alliance of convenience to oppose the occupation. This was the genesis of the Solaris Home Defense League.

Erik Gray who was a rising star in the Silver Dragons Stables began recruiting individual gladiators, and once they got some action and showed their potential, several stables and corporate interests signed into the alliance. Among them there was his friend: "The Unnamed Soldier".

In 3068 while having failed to defended Solaris City, they decided to escape to Nowhere. In their retreat they were able to contact several stables fighting in the minor leagues and ended up incorporating survivors from Midnight Stables, Manticore Stables, Jacobite Stables and the Streholm Cooperative, all of them led by Shen Driscoll. Finally, a Blakist raiding force tried to penetrate Nowhere and destroy a key SHDL refit and construction base, but they were stopped by the SDHL forces, with heavy losses though.

But not everybody was on the same page. There was resistance from the Gambelli and Bertoli mob families and several yakuza groups who were seeing in Gray's victories a threat to their future plans. Even them though would end up teaming with the Solaris Home Defense League though in a way in their own terms.

In the meantime though, with the backing of several prominent stables like the Silver Dragons Stables, Cenotaph Stables, Lynch Stables, and the Black Lions Cooperative, the SHDL began to conduct larger operations designed to push back against the Word and force the occupiers to withdraw.

The war next jumped to the media, which still thrived on the planet despite Blakist censorship of interstellar communications, the SHDL pulled the public behind them in revolt. The Solarans turned the war against the occupiers into a form of sport, broadcasting the violent clashes with the same panache as gladiatorial matches. There was also several individuals that reworked the elaborate betting and gaming system to turn a profit. The media became another war scenario. While the "free media" displayed the SDHL forces and allies as trivid heroes, their exploits plastered across entertainment screens, the Word of Blake finally counterattacked with their own propaganda. From January 3069 through March of 3071, Blakist started parading captured gladiators and popular warriors into showcase arenas and executing them through lopsided contests.

Meantime, on the trenches, the Twenty-fifth Division spread out and struck at suspected SHDL cell sites with overwhelming force. Collateral damage was high as the Blakists burned down anything they couldn't remove, salvage, or strip.

For some months, the SHDL was hiding, building their forces in preparation for an attack, though for most people they might have been destroyed.

In June 3070, the SHDL attacked several Blakist caches throughout the International Zone. Using their Saviors' infantry bays to transport several platoons of infantry and Dispossessed MechWarriors, they seized much needed 'Mechs, ammunition and parts. While returning to the SHDL hidden bases they were ambushed by Blakist infantry, that were able to damage two of the Saviors, which were full of ammunition. Thanks to the CASE equipped VTOL, the crews survived and the vehicles were salvageable to be used throughout the war.

But in May 3071, the SHDL hit back with force, when they attacked Blakist strongholds in Solaris City (in that battle they counted as allies the yakuza, who secretly spread the word to citizens several days prior, hence saving the lives of countless Solarans when the assault began). For their attack on the International Zone, they also counted with the help of Gannon's Cannons recently contracted by Zelazni Stables to help in the defense of Solaris. Those days Solaris City became a free-fire zone as units of every stripe targeted anything not broadcasting a prearranged IFF signal. Trying to avoid defeat, the Twenty-fifth withdrew from Montenegro and used their DropShips to strafe the district. As a response, the SHDL responded by seizing the underdefended International Zone where hundreds of impounded BattleMechs and equipment were discovered. Gannon's Cannons was still working with the SHDL and in control of the International Zone, but at that time most of the stables (and warriors) from the SHDL were more concerned with their current ranking than cooperating long enough to smash the Blakists. And in the 17th of August 3071, barely two hours prior to the Stables finally cleaning up the stables full of equipment that could have equipped two whole battalions, the WoB stormed the International Zone and level everything in their path. Though a couple of the warehouses were lost, the mercenaries made them pay in blood, and only a few of them got away. Those units created secondary attack forces as every nearby MechWarrior and wannabe claimed a war machine, and so the carnage in Solaris City began anew. By June 3071, the Word of Blake forces had withdrawn from Solaris City and destroyed the planetary HPG.

Victory did not sit well one the SHDL alliance. Though they claimed victory, the alliance fractured scant days later and numerous firefights erupted as gladiators, fueled by the media's constant coverage, sought out rivals and settled grudges.

A number of the SHDL gladiators dropped out of the regular fighting to get back into the arenas around June 3071. The Open-class arenas were still closed but numerous Class-Two and Class-Three arenas were opening already as the City's denizens attempted to get back into the swing of things, even Erik Gray was offered several Championship bout, but he refused them all because he remained in the field against the Blakists.

The Blakists took advantage of the fragmentation and in mid-August they returned and reclaimed the International Zone in a blitzkrieg assault. Knowing they couldn't hold the sector for long, Precentor Sariana Pryor staged artillery in the warehouse district. Under the cover of their guns and the continuing chaos, the Blakists slowly advanced through Solaris City.

The SHDL, now fragmented into five smaller alliances counterattacked and forced the Word of Blake back out of Solaris City and into the Reaches by mid-October 3071. Then a Blakist raiding force penetrated Nowhere and destroyed a key SHDL refit and construction base. Both sides were low on supplies at this point, and even the black market was not able to replenish everything. Nevertheless the SHDL kept pushing and by December 3071 the Blakist forces on Solaris withdrew, too battered to continue the fight.

Final success was even worse for the SHDL. Less than a month later, the SHDL dissolved into a collection of warring gangs divided along old factional and stable lines. With the planetary government effectively destroyed after the occupation, no unified security force existed to contain the rapidly escalating violence, which subsided only after the arrival of Lyran forces in late 3074. The Solaris Stable Association re-formed in February 3075, marking the beginning of the system's rebirth.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the Solaris Home Defense League
	Erik Gray	3068 - 3071

Notes

There was no official leader of the SHDL, though Erik Gray could be considered their spiritual leader. The Unnamed Soldier could also be considered the second in command.

Tactics

Fight hard and strong. Demolish any Blakists influence they could find, 'Mechs, media, whatever.

Composition History

Several of the Solaris Stables fully or individually joined their ranks. Their actual strength is unknown, and changed a lot during the occupation.

At the end of the occupation the remaining SHDL numbered roughly two regiments.

Bibliography

• BattleCorps Solaris Broadcasting Co., 28/05/3071: "Solaris Rebels Losing Steam"
• BattleCorps Solaris Broadcasting Co., 27/06/3071: "Solaris Triumphant, Blakists in Retreat"
• A Face Full of Blades
• Total Chaos