Siege of Hesperus II (2853)

Siege of Hesperus II
Part of Second Succession War
Start Date 9 April 2853
End Date 10 November 2853
Location Hesperus nadir and zenith jump points, Hesperus II orbit
Planet Hesperus II
Result DCMS routed, last of DCMS WarShips for that era destroyed.
Factions
(Attacker)
LCAF
(Defender)
DCMS
Commanders and leaders
Kommodore Parsh [1] Tai-sho Susumu Fujiwara (overall), Cho-sho Greg Hossu (space command)
Forces involved
LCS Invincible and associated DropShips, Transport Flotilla Two flotillas of Warships and associated DropShips
Environment
Space

The Siege of Hesperus II was a spaceborne conflict during the Second Succession War that was concurrent with the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Battles of Hesperus II. It was the last WarShip action in the Inner Sphere until the Clan Invasion two centuries later.

Invasion and Blockade[edit]

The siege and invasion of Hesperus II is popularly portrayed as revenge for the assassination of Coordinator Yoguchi Kurita, though evidence was later found that he had been planning the offensive well before his death.[2] The objective was the strategically important Defiance Industries complex on-planet, in hopes of crippling the Lyran ability to wage war.

On April 9, 2583, the Draconis Combine invaded Hesperus with all of the surviving Kuritan WarShips, accompanied by assault DropShips and aerospace fighters. The initial assault cost the Lyran Defenders more than forty ships and upwards of 100 aerospace fighters along with possession of the recharge stations. Kuritan losses were relatively light: fewer than a dozen DropShips and a few squadrons of fighters were lost to the Lyran defense. For five months, Kuritan units held both jump points and the orbit of Hesperus II while the Lyran defenders used up their food and supplies. Tai-sho Susumu Fujiwara, the Combine commander, felt that time was on his side.[3][2]

The LCAF made multiple attempts to run the blockade to no avail: the jump points were too well defended, and pirate point insertions could not get past the forces in orbit. The only success was placing observer vessels in the system outskirts. After five months the Draconis Combine began a ground war of attrition against the Lyran regiments, while on Tharkad a new plan was born.[4][5]

As of 25 October, the Draconis Combine blockading forces were deployed as follows:

Nadir Jump Point Fleet[6]
Zenith Jump Point Fleet[8]
  • Bonaventure-class corvettes: DCS Tamura, DCS Georgia
  • Vigilant-class corvette: DCS Pacheco
  • Each of the three corvettes had an attached squadron of Shilone fighters
  • It is implied that another recharge station was present at the zenith point as well.[2]
Planetary Blockade Fleet[8]

A Bold Plan[edit]

Henry DeCalidore, a member of the Triumvirate Regency, suggested using the LCS Invincible, which had been a museum ship for many years. With no other active WarShips since the First Succession War, the Lyran Commonwealth had to dig deep to get her ready: a mixture of aged veterans, crew from other ship types, and cadets from the naval academies worked up for all of September and part of October before departing for Hesperus.[5][9][4]

LCS Invincible
Invincible and attached DropShips[10]

On 25 October 2853, the Invincible jumped to the Hesperus nadir jump point.[10][4]

Action at the Nadir Jump Point[edit]

Thinking themselves the only power to still possess operational WarShips, the Draconis Combine panicked when the LCS Invincible jumped in. Ships scattered as the battlecruiser drove forward. The DCS Yedo and the Wyrm died under the guns of the Invincible and her consorts. Taking heavy fire, the Galedon II jumped away to a preplotted point near the planet, taking two DropShips and some of her fighters with her. The rest of the nadir jump point defenders were lost.[5][11][4]

Both sides had been badly hurt. The heavily-damaged Galedon II escaped to Hesperus II with only sixteen fighters out of the seventy-two she had started with, the Sabeeh, and the Katana which had two fighters remaining of her original squadron. On the Lyran side, the Invincible was also damaged, and half her attached fighter complement was gone. Of the six DropShips that made the initial jump, four were left to accompany the Invincible and the relief force to orbit: the Droner, Martina, Pitbull, and Ecol, all damaged to some degree. The Lyran DropShips' total fighter complement had been reduced to just seven among them.[12]

An hour after the arrival of the Invincible, Lyran JumpShips carrying a flotilla of DropShips containing relief forces for Hesperus II jumped in.[10]

Lyran Transport Flotilla[1]

Kommodore Parsh ordered his command to flank speed toward Hesperus II, placing strain on the mix of crew young and old. They would effect such repairs as they could as they sped toward the next meeting.[1][4]

Battle in Orbit[edit]

The DCS Galedon II jumped to a pirate point near Hesperus II. The planetary blockade ships saw the carrier emerge still venting atmosphere and debris. Once communications were established and they learned that the LCS Invincible was active once again, the decision was made to recall the zenith point corvettes: they would need everything they had to hold her off.[13]

On 10 November 2853, the Invincible and her consorts engaged the combined Kuritan aerospace forces. With most of the attention focused on the Lyran battlecruiser, the relief transports were able to slip past and land on the planet's surface.[4]

Even as the battle raged in orbit, Kuritan ground forces were making their final attack on the DefHes facility. The only force in their path was The Force of Last Resort, a scratch unit of forty Defiance employees piloting unpainted BattleMechs straight off the assembly line.[14] Still under fire from the orbital defenses, the Invincible moved into low orbit and rained fire down on the Kuritans. Some were able to force their way into the factory and escape destruction, but most died.[4][5]

The last of the Draconis Combine WarShips were destroyed in orbit.[15][14] Coordinator Miyogi Kurita ordered his remaining forces to withdraw.[4] The siege was lifted.

Aftermath[edit]

In addition to the loss of their entire WarShip fleet, the Draconis Combine lost fifty percent or more of the combined forces committed to Hesperus. For this price, they gained the destruction of only one of the DefHes assembly lines, though that was up and running again within a year.[15][14]

Yet the Lyran Commonwealth paid a heavy price as well: the Tenth Skye Rangers and Ninth Arcturan Guards took so many losses that they were disbanded. As for the forty brave volunteers of "The Force of Last Resort", only five survived.[14]

The end of the battles did not mean the end of Lyran losses: on her return voyage to Tharkad, the LCS Invincible, with two hundred crew aboard, was lost to an apparent misjump.[8][14][4][15]

Legacy[edit]

Many honors were bestowed upon the living and the dead: Baron Ivor Brewer, who commanded the forty volunteers in the factory, was given the Commonwealth Medal of Honor and made Duke of Hesperus II. His unit was given the Dragon Slayer's Ribbon, and the thirty-five who died in the fighting were added to the List of Honored Missing along with the crew of the Invincible. In a move without precedent, the entire planet was awarded the Honor of Skye.[4] The Invincible was featured on the back of the 100 Kroner note.[16]

With the destruction of the Kuritan fleet and the loss of the Invincible, WarShips would be absent from Inner Sphere conflicts until the Clans returned. As for the venerable Invincible, she would reappear at the start of the Jihad.[4]

Notes[edit]

  • Tactics of Desperation I says that the blockade involved five Kuritan WarShips and six BattleMech regiments.[10] However, Tactics of Desperation I and II list six WarShips between them.[6][17] The Second Succession War sourcebook mentions eight regiments rather than six[2], but does confirm that Kurita lost six WarShips[4]. Handbook: House Steiner says six BattleMech regiments and "more than twice as many" conventional regiments.[18]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Tactics of Desperation II, p. 3
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Second Succession War (sourcebook), p. 72
  3. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth) PDF version, p. 62
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 Second Succession War (sourcebook), p. 73
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth) PDF version, p. 63
  6. 6.0 6.1 Tactics of Desperation I, pp. 4-5
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Ship Profile: DCS Galedon II
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 Tactics of Desperation II, p. 5
  9. Tactics of Desperation I, pp. 2-3
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Tactics of Desperation I, p. 3
  11. Tactics of Desperation I, p. 5
  12. Tactics of Desperation II, pp.3-5
  13. Tactics of Desperation II, p. 2-3
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth) PDF version, p. 64
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Handbook: House Steiner p. 45
  16. Handbook: House Steiner p. 131
  17. Tactics of Desperation II, pp. 4-5
  18. Handbook: House Steiner, p. 43

Bibliography[edit]