Joan Brandt
Sarna News
Joan Brandt | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Born | 26 August 2712[1] |
| Died | 16 March 2799[1] |
| Affiliation | Terran Hegemony |
| Profile | |
| Rank | Admiral[1] |
| Title(s) | Director of Naval Command |
| Position(s) | Commander of Task Force Commonwealth |
| Profession | Aerospace pilot |
| Family | |
| Spouse | Erik Peterson[1] |
| Children | Carl Peterson[1] Andrea Peterson[1] Demitri Peterson[1] |
Joan Brandt was one of the three most senior Star League Defense Force commanders during Operation CHIEFTAIN.
Contents
History
Early Career
Joan Brandt was born on Outreach and learned to fly as early as she could. By the time she entered the Flight Academy of Graham, she had more than a dozen aerospace qualifications and logged nearly 1,000 flight hours. Upon graduation, Brandt was assigned to the Seventy-fifth Light Horse Regiment—considered an honor by many—though she felt their ground support operations were beneath her and not what she joined the SLDF to do. Her pride, ego, and poor attitude held up promotions and got her transferred several times within the Tenth Army.[1]
In 2739, Brandt engaged in a reckless, unauthorized, and highly skilled mock combat exercise involving two fighters from the Free Worlds League and was nearly court-martialed, but Vice Admiral Lucien Peterson had witnessed her exploits from the bridge of the SLS Golden Hind and intervened in the disciplinary proceedings on her behalf, instead transferring her to the 711th Fleet Interceptor Squadron, one of the units within the Seventh Fleet's aerospace forces stationed aboard the Golden Hind.[1]
Finally able to utilize her full skill set and potential, Brandt's career skyrocketed. During the Third Hidden War, she notched her fiftieth aerospace victory and was awarded the Geerson Flying Cross in 2741 as the 711th claimed the most bandit fighter kills that year. Brandt rose to the rank of commodore in 2747 and was put in charge of Fleet Aero Wing 73, and again promoted to rear admiral in 2750 to command the SLS Arkhangelsk, the flagship of the Seventh Fleet. For most of that decade, she alternated between WarShip and fighter groups in the Seventh and Fifth Fleets, ultimately being given command of the Second Fleet in 2759.[1]
Periphery Uprising
Commanding General Aleksandr Kerensky promoted Joan Brandt to Director of Naval Command in 2762 but she stepped down two years later to oversee combat operations in the Magistracy of Canopus during the Periphery Uprising.[1] Army Group Twelve consisted of five SLDF Armies and Brandt's initial efforts were focused on securing the border, with the Thirteenth Army securing the worlds around Lindenmarle and the Twelfth Army securing the worlds around Borgan's Rift. She then had the Ninth and Tenth Armies push deeper into Magistracy territory, isolating the capital, and plans were well underway for the capture of Canopus when Kerensky ordered a cessation of hostilities at the onset of the Amaris Civil War.[2]
Amaris Civil War
Joan Brandt was the ideal officer to lead Task Force Commonwealth, one of Kerensky's three theaters during Operation CHIEFTAIN.[1] Having occupied the Rim Worlds Republic for a couple years as a staging area to regroup and resupply at the beginning of the war, the SLDF forces departed in early 2772, with Brandt's task force leaving last, by 9 February, due to having the shortest distance to travel to the Terran Hegemony compared to the task forces commanded by Kerensky and Aaron DeChavilier.[3] The total forces under her command included twenty-seven BattleMech divisions, seventy-three infantry divisions, and 101 independent regiments—the largest of the three task forces given it was responsible for the largest front, with target worlds ranging from Bordon along the Free Worlds League border, to Nashira on the Draconis Combine border.[4]
In the opening wave, which started in July 2772 and concluded at the end of 2774,[5] Brandt's task force faced mixed resistance, ranging from little to none on the Draconis border[6] to more determined Amaris defenders along the Free Worlds border.[7] In instances where they encountered relatively light opposition, Brandt directed her troops to focus on supporting the local populations, though it also allowed the SLDF forces to push ahead rapidly to liberate additional worlds.[6] Meanwhile, Brandt felt the greatest threat to her task force was the Republican navy, but this ended up not being the case. They had been mostly preoccupied by the Secret Fleet, and those that encountered the massive SLDF invasion fleets were quick to withdraw. On the other hand, the naval battles at Lone Star and Nusakan would end up being the largest since the Reunification War and the costliest victories of the first wave,[8] with more than a hundred SLDF WarShips destroyed or crippled.[9]
Notes
- Special Rules for Joan Brandt can be found on Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, page 151.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 60: "Joan Brandt"
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 95: "Troops Involved in the Magistracy Uprising"
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, pp. 110, 118: "The Death of the Republic - The Message"
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, pp. 120–122: "Operation CHIEFTAIN - When the Hammer Falls"
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 138: "Operation Liberation Wave 1"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 122: "Draconis Front"
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 127: "Free Worlds Front"
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, p. 122: "When the Hammer Falls"
- ↑ Historical: Liberation of Terra Volume 1, pp. 124, 127: "The Battle for Lone Star - Hegemony Core"