Tamo Bunker

The Tamo Bunker during the Battle of Tukayyid

The Tamo Bunker was an underground command on Tukayyid, under Mount Kline in the Tamo Mountain range.

Description

Carved out of the heart of Mount Kline by ComStar engineers, the Tamo Bunker was a fully functional Star League Strategic Command post equipped with an Interactive Construct Reality chamber that allowed the Precentor Martial to coordinate the battle across the entire planet from one central location. Utilized by Focht during his planning for the battle on Terra, the ICR and the Tamo Bunker were far in advance of anything the Successor State militaries could produce at the time, a testament to the technology retained by ComStar, though that itself was far eclipsed by the Holotank technology utilized by the Clans themselves, an advantage nullified by the Clans' lack of unified focus.

Considering his need for troops for the actual conflict, the Precentor Martial retained only one company of BattleMechs and two platoons of infantry to defend the command bunker. Focht also obtained an AS7-K Atlas which he dubbed Heimdall, after both the Norse guardian of the Rainbow Bridge, and the shadowy Lyran organization tasked with curbing the excesses of government overreach, keeping it prepped in case the bunker came under direct attack. It was Focht's belief that by only having a small contingent of troops on site, it would draw less attention and minimize the possibility of the Clans recognizing the importance of the facility, which played out in reality.

The ComStar engineers also built physical defenses into the bunker itself: two massive slabs of granite each more than twenty meters thick. Protecting the two main entrances, the slabs were designed to drop if the bunker came under attack, preventing an assault on the interior. This and ample stores and internal power sources was believed to ensure that even if it was attacked the bunker would have held out for the duration of the battle.

History

After Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht challenged the Clans to fight a Trial of Possession for Terra, it became his secret and only command post. From that location, he directed all Com Guard forces during the battle. Prior to the battle, Focht's superior, Primus Myndo Waterly, expressed her doubts about Focht's decision, fearing that the Clans would locate the bunker and attack it, as they were specialized in headhunting missions; in fact, that same year, the heir of the Draconis Combine, Hohiro Kurita, was almost killed in a similar attack on Teniente. Focht told her that all the communications connected to the planetary grid, and through substations, routed to the bunker through cables and, in fact, he expected the Clans to waste time and resources searching for his location.

Battle of Tukayyid

During the Battle of Tukayyid, the Primus' fears were almost realized but, ironically, by accident: a Star of Clan Smoke Jaguar OmniMechs, Gamma Light Supernova Star of the 122nd Striker Cluster, passed within thirty kilometers of the Bunker. Luckily for the Com Guards, the Jaguars didn't expect the attack they received from the hidden bunker defenders, and the entire Star was quickly destroyed, their communications jammed with ECM. However, if only one of them had escaped, the Jaguars would have had suspicions about what they were defending and probably would have taken the bunker and slaughtered their defenders, putting an untimely end to the battle.

Jihad

Tamo Bunker survived the Jihad apparently undamaged, despite the Word of Blake's nuking of the planet, and after the Rasalhague Republic joined the Ghost Bear Clan to form the Ghost Bear Dominion, it became a Ghost Bear command post. In 3073, it was still there when Star Colonel Richard Bekker received the call from Devlin Stone, who challenged him to a Trial of Possession for the planetary HPG.

Bibliography

• ComStar
• Ghost Bear's Lament Part II (novel)
• Lost Destiny (novel)
• Tukayyid