Battle of Tharkad (3143)

Image of Battle of Tharkad (3143)
Battle of Tharkad (3143)
Conflict details
Part of Dark Age
Start Date 2 July 3143
End Date 20 July 3143
Planet(s) Tharkad
Location(s) Bremen (Nagelring, Tharkad City, Triad, Lockhead-CBM), Tatyana Islands (Tropicana, Sommerposten)
Result Lyran Commonwealth victory
Territorial Changes No change
Attacking Forces
Affiliation Clan Wolf
Commanding Officer(s) Galaxy Commander Alaric
Command(s) Alpha Galaxy
Beta Galaxy
CWS Rogue
Defending Forces
Affiliation Lyran Commonwealth
Commanding Officer(s) Colonel Callandre Kell
Command(s) Twentieth Arcturan Guards
Twenty-fifth Arcturan Guards
Twenty-sixth Arcturan Guards
First Buena Guards
Seventh Donegal Guards
Seventh Lyran Guards
Tenth Lyran Guards
First Royal Guards
Second Royal Guards
Third Royal Guards
Queen's Gambit
Wolf Hunters
First Davion Guards
Other Forces
Affiliation Clan Jade Falcon
Commanding Officer(s) Khan Malvina Hazen
Command(s) Raptor Keshik
Delta Galaxy


Prelude[edit]

Melissa Steiner regained the throne to the Lyran Commonwealth shortly before Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon descended on the capital world. Anticipating an apocalyptic battle, Lyran units from throughout the sector raced to reinforce Tharkad. Among them was Kommandant Penrod Schollmeyer, who helped prepare for the space defense.[1][2][3][4]

Overview[edit]

On 2 July 3143 Galaxy Commander Alaric arrived at the zenith jump point aboard the Invader-class JumpShip Lope. After requesting and receiving safcon in order to present his batchall in person, Beta Galaxy burned towards the planet. Aware that Khans Seth Ward with Alpha Galaxy and Malvina Hazen with Raptor Keshik and Delta Galaxy were a jump—roughly a week—behind, the Archon charged Colonel Callandre Kell with the defense of Tharkad.[1][2][3]

A week later on 9 July, Alaric and his bondsman Anastasia Kerensky issued their batchall to the Archon, Colonel Kell, Julian Davion, and Trillian Steiner. To their surprise he did not issue a Trial of Possession for the entirety of Tharkad, only the continent of Bremen, which contained Tharkad City and the Triad.[1][2][3]

It would be four days until the first recorded encounter, however. Looking to demoralize the Lyrans by crushing their legendary "Wall of Steel" with the Wolf version, he assembled an ad hoc Binary of Tomahawk II MechWarriors under the command of Star Captain Dana and set them against the Second Royal Guards and First Buena Guards protecting The Nagelring academy. Over the course of two hours, this Binary crushed two combined companies of heavy and assault BattleMechs before withdrawing after exhausting their ammunition. The Royal Guards took heavy causalities, while the Buena Guards took only moderate losses. This paled next to the students and faculty of the Nagelring, with nearly fifty percent fatalities. In exchange, the Wolves lost only a single Tomahawk II, that of Star Captain Dana. A faulty ejection system resulted in a double leg amputation when her command couch landed. Following the destruction of the Nagelring, the Royal Guards relocated to Tharkad City.[1][5][6][7][8][9]

Despite this morale blow, Colonel Kell knew the main thrust would be at the seat of government, the Triad and she maintained her forces in their positions in order to blunt the Wolf thrust. On the 15th Khan Hazen arrived in system and grew furious to learn Alaric had not only beat her to Tharkad, but had challenged for the most important continent on the world. When she threatened to attack Alaric for Bremen he replied that the Lyrans, so fearful of what her Mongol Doctrine would mean for their world, would join forces with the Wolves against her. Khan Ward had just arrived in system with Alpha Galaxy, the Congress-class WarShip CWS Rogue, and three Pocket WarShips including the Union-C Pocket WarShip-class Snarling Leap. Khan Hazen quickly realized she could not prevail against such a force, but by possessing the rest of the planet she would still gain glory for conquering Tharkad while allowing time to rebuild her forces. Khan Hazen agreed, and issued her batchall for the Tatyana Island continent, home to House Steiner's secondary offices.[1][2][3]

DOORMAN & LOCKDOWN[edit]

On the evening of the 16th, or sometime prior, Alaric landed the main body of his DropShips in the draw northwest of Tharkad City. Beta Galaxy disembarked their ‘Mechs to prepare for a Lyran attack that never came that snowy night. On the morning of the 17th they marched south towards the Triad, along the eastern bank of the river. Facing them was a Lyran "Long Wall" stretching from a few kilometers north of the Tharkad City outskirts and extending nearly die northwest towards the river. At the center of the line was Julian Davion in his Templar and his First Davion Guards. Behind him was the majority of the reserves, including Colonel Kell and Sergeant Major Brad Zimmer in their SM1 Tank Destroyer. Their primary goal was simple, to hold the line and prevent an advance on the Triad. As a secondary mission, codenamed DOORMAN, they were to find and fix Alaric, then the Davion Guards would punch a hole in the Wolf line at his location while the faster elements of their reserve poured into their rear. As the Wolf force closed, Davion and his comrade Theresa Sparks in her Legionnaire scored serious hits on several OmniMechs, using "Jack-in-the-Box" tactics. It wasn't long before Alaric found Davion, playing the ER Large Lasers from his Mad Cat Mk IV A-Configuration across his Templar's torso. Excited to find and potentially destroy Alaric so early, Davion initiated DOORMAN.[1][3]

However, Alaric had anticipated such an action. Having coordinated with Khan Ward ahead of time, he initiated his own battle plan; LOCKDOWN while Alpha Galaxy was on orbital approach, about forty-five minutes out. No record of space or orbital combat with Alpha or Beta exist, both forces seemingly covered under the safcon granted for the initial batchall. As Davion's forces charged into the Wolf lines as part of DOORMAN, most of their reserves charged into the hole made, including Colonel Kell's SM1 despite being in overall command of a multiregiment planetary defense. As the reserves charge through the hole in the line, Wolf ’Mechs closed into melee range with the fast-moving forces, seeking to score mobility hits. While the pocket bogged down, Alaric ordered his western flank to hold position while his reserves encircled the salient. Then, taking three Stars with him Alaric sprinted past the Lyran line, not towards the Triad as Davion and Kell had assumed, but to Tharkad City for the most important part of LOCKDOWN. Despite stomping through a metropolis with millions of people, Alaric's forces tried to limit civilian casualties while simultaneously seeking to create traffic snarls on the main throughways. This was accomplished in spades on Seth Marsden Avenue, a six lane artery that ran north-south. The press of humanity effectively ended maneuver for both the Wolves and the Lyrans. Star Commander Markus Kerensky was in that press, and had been separated from his Star from a Lyran bombardment when his Warwolf ran headlong into Kommandant Reiner Hogarth's KGC-009 King Crab as it emerged from an emergency bunker. Despite crippling Kerensky's Warwolf he was immediately swarmed by Elementals.[10][11][12][13] Elsewhere in this melee Hauptmann Steven Blasegga of the Second Royal Guards scored four hits in his Fafnir on a Leopard CV being used as air support which resulted in the DropShip crashing from engine failure.[7] As the fighting raged, the Lyran defenders looked up in horror as the second part of LOCKDOWN become clear to them; Alpha Galaxy was making a combat drop on the Triad, and nearly all of their forces were engaged in Tharkad City and prevented from traveling south by the swarms of humanity fleeing the fighting.[1][3]

Tatyana Islands[edit]

As Alpha was dropping on Tharkad, Khan Hazen and her Shrike had made planet fall around the Tatyana Islands. Not able to benefit from safcon, they had to fight their way through the Lyran fighter cover. Hauptmann Thomasina McKittrick’s Würger, the "Peeping Tom" attempted to block a Star of Falcon aerospace fighters in low orbit. After suffering severe damage and losing both weapons and drives, the Falcons left the Tom for dead as gravity pulled her ever closer to the surface. Able to restore drives just enough to reduce inertia, the craft impacted near the Siegfried Glacier Reserve.[4][14] The Falcons were met with members of the Third Royal Guards (who had arrived on planet just moments before the Falcons), Twentieth Arcturan Guards, the Queen's Gambit mercenary company (who happened to be on Tatyana for R&R) and scattered reports of Second Royal Guard elements. Captain Stephanie "Queen Steph" Rutherford of the Queen's Gambit faced her company of ’Mechs, including her Jaguar, off against the Eleventh Falcon Velites. The Velites' recon binary commander, Star Commander Josephus became so fixated on engaging the fast moving Gambit ’Mechs that his target fixation stretched his line out enough that the Tharkad Militia could put them down.[7][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] Khan Hazen had detached a portion of her forces under the command of saKhan Beckett Malthus to assault a Star League-era base, Sommerposten. As the defenders engaged Malthus' force, Hazen led her Raptor Keshik undetected across the ocean floor, emerging at the defenders' rear.[1][3] The defense collapsed, and the Falcon Khans pressed southward to the city of Tropicano. A lance of Stalking Spider IIs attempted to cover the fighting retreat towards Tropicana via bounding overwatch, and were successful until one of the left flank pair suffered an ammunition explosion and the Falcons surged through the vulnerable flanks.[22][23][24] Star Captain Elaine's Skadi harried the retreating Lyrans, flying perilously low to the ground and surprising the enemy with point-blank shots as they popped up to engage them. For their actions her Star earned the nickname Suicidal Skadis.[17] As the Falcons pushed through the Tatyana jungles towards Tropicana, Star Captain Gehenna took on two Lyran Adders in her Cougar. Coring one Adder with her ER PPC, when she turned towards the second Adder it unleashed a flurry of SRMs a point-blank range, downing both the Cougar and Gehenna's aspirations for a Bloodname.[21] The Twentieth Arcturan attempted to ambush the Falcon vanguard in the metropolis' outskirts with a platoon of Cuchulainn battle armor, only to be swept aside by Turkinas and other assault ’Mechs.[15][16]

Triad[edit]

Alpha Galaxy dropped on the Triad and was met with comparatively sparse resistance with the First Royal Guards at the core. In the tight confines of the Triad King Crabs proved to be highly effective, however they proved vulnerable to battle armor, with most of the King Crabs lost in this stage of the fight lost to swarm attacks. Hauptmann Maximillian Marius commanded a Royal Guards company and earned notoriety in this battle, though at the cost of severe damage to his King Crab.[12][13] As the Wolves drove on the Royal Palace, Lyran defenses collapsed but a lone Demolisher proved such stubborn opposition that the Wolves spent twenty minutes and five ’Mechs trying to bring down Senior Sergeant Major Andrew Greiling and his all-volunteer crew. Kept in "protective custody" by "Acting Archon" Brewer just days earlier, they vowed not to outlive the Archon and sought to sell their lives as dearly as possible.[25] In the final approaches to the Royal Palace, Lyran holovid captured entrenched infantry in skyscraper redoubts pouring fire on the approaching ’Mechs, they also captured Star Commander Eamon Sradac in his Black Wolf battle armor burning the infantry out. While his actions earned Sradac much distinction among the Wolves, his former sibkin in Clan Wolf-in-Exile swore to kill him for his treason.[26][27] Melissa Steiner refused to evacuate the Royal Palace, instead investing Trillian with her proxy and ordering all personnel to flee the Palace in a waiting SM1 Tank Destroyer. The first elements to reach the Palace was a mechanized Trinary of the 4th Wolf Guards Striker Cluster whose Elementals dismounted and burst into the Throne Room. Demanding Melissa's surrender as she sat on her throne, she refused and instead began firing a laser pistol at the lead Elemental. The act of defiance cost Melissa her life as he gunned the Archon down. Whatever glory such regicide might have gained that Elemental was short-lived, Kommandant Bonnie Richards swore to avenge the Archon's death and was able to make good his vow before the battle's end.[7][1][2][3]

Elsewhere[edit]

Once the Royal Palace fell the Lyran forces pulled back from the Triad, but combat still raged across the Bremen continent for another three days. In a much-needed propaganda coup, a Beta Galaxy Locust IIC stumbled into a Second Royal Guards lightning company, and the BattleROM of a Gauntlet running it down played frequently in Lyran Media.[28] As the Seventh Donegal Guards was being mauled, a Havoc whose loping gait from a temperamental hip actuator that earned it the nickname "Dog of War" saved the life of its pilot by throwing off the aim of a Gauss rifle round meant for its cockpit.[29][30] Leutnant Mackie Ozora was a Sentinel pilot in the Tenth Lyran Guards who already had a string of bad luck even before his new unit died around despite earning several kills and assists.[31] During this conflict, former–Free Worlds League MechWarrior Krista Presteck was spotted fighting under Clan Wolf's banner now, a bondsman no more.[32][33] The fighting also ranged as far south as the Lockheed/CBM facilities, inflicting severe damage on the assembly lines.[34]

Hegira[edit]

On 20 July, Alaric flew under a flag of truce to the Asgard citadel on Mount Wotan, headquarters for the LCAF. At the time the Lyran forces were preparing to evacuate the planet, with an estimated eight hours before they could all retreat off world. To the shock of all those on the Lyran side, Alaric didn't come to demand their surrender but to request hegira, a Clan concept of honorable departure. Trillian Steiner accepted immediately and then offered the same to Khan Hazen who was reluctantly forced to accept.[1][2][3]

Aftermath[edit]

The butcher's bill for Lyran forces was horrific. The Twentieth and Twenty-fifth Arcturan Guards were destroyed. Among the few survivors was Leutnant-General Francine Ross, who was put in command of the Seventeenth Arcturan Guards while the rest were folded into the Twenty-sixth Arcturan Guards.[35] The Seventh Donegal Guards were so battered they were folded into the Eighth Donegal Guards.[36] But by far the worst casualties were among the Lyran Regulars, with six regiments taken off the rolls. The Seventh and Tenth Lyran Regulars were both destroyed outright with the very few survivors folded into the Sixteenth and Ninth Lyran Regulars, respectively. Because of their high casualties, the Second was rolled into the Third, the Sixth into the Eighth, the Twelfth into the Ninth, and the Fourth into the Sixteenth Lyran Regulars.[37]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Field Manual: 3145, pp. 120–121: "Succession War"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Era Report: 3145, pp. 26–28: "Tharkad in the Crosshairs"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 A Bonfire of Worlds, ch. 15
  4. 4.0 4.1 Technical Readout: 3145 Lyran Commonwealth, p. 50: "Würger"
  5. Field Manual: 3145, p. 122: "Lyran Commonwealth Military Academies"
  6. Field Manual: 3145, p. 123: "First Buena Guards"
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Field Manual: 3145, p. 124: "Royal Guards"
  8. Technical Readout: 3145, p. 180: "Tomahawk II"
  9. Technical Readout: 3145 Clans, p. 52: "Tomahawk II"
  10. Technical Readout: 3145 Clans, p. 46: "Warwolf"
  11. Technical Readout: 3150, p. 162: "Warwolf"
  12. 12.0 12.1 Technical Readout: 3145 Lyran Commonwealth, p. 46: "KGC-009 King Crab"
  13. 13.0 13.1 Technical Readout: 3150, p. 188: "KGC-009 King Crab"
  14. Technical Readout: 3145, p. 198: "Würger"
  15. 15.0 15.1 Technical Readout: 3145 Lyran Commonwealth, p. 6: "Cuchulainn"
  16. 16.0 16.1 Technical Readout: 3150, p. 16: "Cuchulainn"
  17. 17.0 17.1 Technical Readout: 3145 Clans, p. 16: "Skadi"
  18. Technical Readout: 3145 Lyran Commonwealth, p. 28: "Jaguar"
  19. Technical Readout: 3150, p. 130: "Jaguar"
  20. Technical Readout: Dark Age, p. 40: "Jaguar"
  21. 21.0 21.1 Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 3, p. 12: "Adder (Puma)"
  22. Technical Readout: 3145 Mercenaries, p. 32: "Stalking Spider II"
  23. Technical Readout: 3150, p. 144: "Stalking Spider II"
  24. Technical Readout: Dark Age, p. 62: "Stalking Spider II"
  25. Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 25, p. 6: "Demolisher Heavy Tank (Cell)"
  26. Technical Readout: 3145 Clans, p. 10: "Black Wolf Battle Armor"
  27. Technical Readout: 3145, p. 22: "Black Wolf Battle Armor"
  28. Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 16, p. 8: "Locust IIC"
  29. Technical Readout: 3145 Free Worlds League, p. 24: "HVC-P6 Havoc"
  30. Technical Readout: Dark Age, p. 38: "HVC-P6 Havoc"
  31. Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 14, p. 13: "Sentinel"
  32. Technical Readout: 3145 Free Worlds League, p. 38: "STK-9A Stalker II"
  33. Technical Readout: Dark Age, p. 168: "STK-9A Stalker II"
  34. Field Manual: 3145, p. 121: "Bolan Province"
  35. Field Manual: 3145, p. 125: "Arcturan Guards:
  36. Field Manual: 3145, p. 127: "Donegal Guards"
  37. Field Manual: 3145, p. 128: "Lyran Guards"

Bibliography[edit]