Battle of Timkovichi (3142)

Battle of Timkovichi
Part of The Dark Age, Republic Era
Start Date 15 August 3142
Planet Timkovichi
Result Clan Jade Falcon victory
Factions
(Attacker)
Golden Ordun
(Defender)
Lyran Commonwealth
Commanders and leaders
Malvina Hazen Evan Kell
Conditions
Normal


The Battle of Timkovichi was a late Dark Age Era military operation undertaken by the Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Hell's Horses against the Lyran Commonwealth space.[1]

Operation Brief[edit]

The battle took place in a tropical area of Timkovichi.

Operation History[edit]

Factions & Known Units Involved in the Conflict[edit]

Golden Ordun[edit]

Lyran Commonwealth[edit]

Origin of Conflict[edit]

Since Malvina Hazen created her own version of the Mongol Doctrine, she opened a bloody way through the Lyran Commonwealth space. Her creation of the Golden Ordun, when incorporated forcibly the Clan Hell's Horses into her service, made her even more ambitious, driving through the Commonwealth and towards Terra and to Tharkad, the Lyran capital. One of the main defenders of the lyran space was the Clan Wolf-in-Exile forces, but they were too much weakened to fight everywhere, so other units had to help them. The most prestigious was the mercenary unit Kell Hounds, traditional defenders of the Commonwealth. And it was on the planet Timkovichi were the Ordun and Hounds forces crashed.[2]


The Battle[edit]

On the 15th of August 3142, the Hounds were mounting a ferocious defense of Timkovichi against the forces of Malvina Hazen and her Ordun. The massed light forces of the Golden Ordun and the three-pronged attack into the Commonwealth had seen the defending Commonwealth forces pinned in place, with many units overwhelmed, but the Kell Hounds, which had support from the local population, were a tough, experienced mercenary unit skilled in combined-arms warfare that proved a match for Malvina's forces.[3]

The Hounds had a number of quadrupedal Jaguar 'Mechs in their forces, and they used them, almost single-handedly, to stall the Horses' advance. The 666th Mechanized Assault CVluster warriors successfully lured the speedy Jaguars into the open, but they were unable to capitalize it, as the Hounds' Mechs charged the Horses' lines and began wreaking havoc into the Clan's rear areas. When the Hounds abandoned Greywalk, the city where a battalion of their forces had been housed, two lances of Jaguar 2s laid in wait, and, as the Horses moved in and began to terrorize the local populace with their bastardized Mongol Doctrine, the Jaguars spotted for Arrow IV missiles before breaking cover. The defeat was so complete than the Horses fled the region... but at the end it became a Pyrrhic victory.[4]

Malvina Hazen wasn't one to let any obstacle to stop her: in part for the Horses' defeat, she decided to resort to subjecting the Hounds to orbital bombardment from the Aegis-class heavy cruiser CJF Red Talon[5] to defeat them. It was a extreme measure, but one of a number of savage, extreme actions that she relied on - along with her forces' sheer numbers - to generate tales of terror sufficient to intimidate worlds into surrendering without the need for a military campaign.[6] She felt a small twinge of guilt to threaten the Horses Beta Galaxy, which was engaged in battle, but didn't bother to warn them to break off their attack. She saw a Hounds' Awesome in battle, which may have been one of their leaders, caught fully by the bombardment, and the assault 'Mech simply melted, along with all the command staff and virtually almost the totality of the Hounds, Evan Kell included... but also caught were the Horses' which were engaged with the Hounds. The battle ended soon, a crushing defeat for the Lyrans and a total victory for the Falcons.[7][8]

Aftermath[edit]

The bombardment also razed the small, nearby city of Greywalk. Unfortunately for the Horses, the orbital bombardment that annihilated the Hounds also savaged Beta Galaxy, forcing the Horses to rotate the remains of the Galaxy back into their Occupation Zone to seed new Horde Clusters. Besides, the Horses didn't like Malvina's acts, and if she was very respected and admired between the Horses, later she was mostly feared and hated. Even two of the Doctrine's most ardent followers, Patricia DeLaurel and Fulk Lassenerra became horrified by the slaughter of his Galaxy on Timkovichi, abandoning the Doctrine. Fulk, later Horse's SaKhan, would later help to make his clan broke his alliance with Malvina.[9][10]

However, that act didn't affect all the Horses equally: Beta Galaxy's 666th Mechanized Assault Cluster survived unscathed because they were several kilometers outside ground zero. They viewed their survival as a sign that they were truly favored by the Chinggis Khan, and remained at her side.[11]

The Hounds survived as unit, though just. The next officer in line, Evan's niece, Callandre Kell, managed to regroup barely a battalion of survivors. She then led them to the Battle of Tharkad in 3143, later launching guerrilla raids into the Falcon's Occupation Zone.[12]

On 23 February 3151, Callandre led a raid into Timkovichi, landing in the former area of the battle. Callandre disembarked first alone and payed her respects to the dead, including her uncle. The Hounds later left a small monument on place: A ferrosteel plinth engraved with the names of the Hounds who died there, and a promise into the base: Vengeance is Owed. The Hounds soon made good on their promise. Using the chaos reigning in the Hinterlands, they liberated several worlds from the Falcons, including Arc-Royal, and founded the Arc-Royal Liberty Coalition.[13]

Gallery[edit]

References[edit]

  1. A Bonfire of Worlds, ch. 13
  2. A Bonfire of Worlds, ch. 13
  3. "Field Manual: 3145 p.148
  4. Technical Readout: Dark Age, p. 41
  5. Field Manual: 3145, p. 157: "The Jade Falcon Fleet"
  6. Field Manual: 3145, p. 148: "Tearing Down the House"
  7. A Bonfire of Worlds, ch. 13
  8. Era Report: 3145, p. 80
  9. Field Manual: 3145, p. 154: "Clan Hell's Horses"
  10. Elements of Treason: Honor, ch. 14
  11. Era Report: 3145, p. 61
  12. A Bonfire of Worlds, ch. 14
  13. Tamar Rising, p. 32-74

Bibliography[edit]