Battle of Jacson (3103)

Battle of Jacson (3103)
Part of Victoria War
Start Date 7 September 3103 End Date ca. 28 February 3104 Location Perpetual Forest Planet Jacson Result Federated Suns victory Territorial changes Federated Suns conquest
Factions
(Attacker) Federated Suns	(Defender) Capellan Confederation
Commanders and leaders
	Major Donald Valentine
Forces involved
First Federated Suns Armored Cavalry, Eighth Syrtis Fusiliers, Champion Battalion, Holt's Hilltoppers	Unknown battalion, Lethal Injection

Prelude

A month prior to the invasion, a reconnaissance raid revealed only planetary militia. Unknown to Federated Suns forces, a battalion of the Lethal Injection mercenary unit had since been rotated onto Jacson for a scheduled forest training cycle.

Overview

The Fusiliers and Armored Cavalry secured the spaceport and HPG while the Lethal Injection retreated into the Perpetual Forest. The Hilltoppers sent Crusher, their reconnaissance company, in after them. Containing a lance of Koshis they intended to flush Injection out with their Beagle Active Probes but their sensors were so hampered by the thick trees that the two reconnaissance elements ran into each other. Using their speed and jump jets the Koshis were able to avoid being pinned in a standup engagement, but errant weapons fire ignited several fires and confused the battlefield to such a degree that both forces suffered friendly fire. Ultimately Hilltoppers were able to come out on top, destroying an entire Injection company and forcing them to flee off world.

Aftermath

Both Federated Suns units were slated for follow on siege of Victoria, but only the Cavalry were able to participate. The Fusiliers were required to stay in order to suppress riots resulting from what Capelan media would come to call the Spaceport Massacre. Major Xavier Creed of the Fusiliers discovered a cache of germanium at the spaceport. Together with a band of mutineers he resisted arrest and then rounded prisoners to use as human shields. After loading the germanium in a captured Lung Wang-class DropShip and the hostages in a Mule. Once airborne Creed fired on the Mule, which crashed and exploded, leveling several square kilometers of the city. As the world seethed in outrage, Creed and his crew escaped to the Periphery with their germanium.

Despite losing a company worth of force, the Lethal Injection battalion retreated off world and regrouped with the rest of their unit on Victoria. This allowed Lethal Injection to both alert Sian about the invasion, and to die to the last man in defense of Victoria.

On 21 February 3104 Magistracy of Canopus forces launched their counter attack, hitting the Federated Suns world of Manapire within a week. Still on Jacson, the Fusiliers were sent to dislodge the First Raventhir Cuirassiers but ultimately proved unsuccessful. With the Fusilier's departure, the battle of Jacson could truly be said to end.

The Federated Suns retained control of Jacson, which allowed them to uncover one of Daoshen Liao's closest held secrets, warehouses full of factory fresh combat units on both Jacson and Victoria. The true significance of these stockpiles would become evident after the Blackout when the Confederation invaded the Republic of the Sphere.

Bibliography

• Historical: Wars of the Republic Era