Operation BLACK ICE

Operation BLACK ICE was a campaign carried out by the Lyran Intelligence Corps from 3150 onward. Its objective was to weaken Clan Jade Falcon's control over former Lyran Commonwealth worlds in the Falcon Occupation Zone, and ultimately recover those worlds for the Commonwealth.

Devised by General of the Armies Roderick Steiner and endorsed by Archon Trillian Steiner, Black Ice would take advantage of the Falcon touman's assault on Terra without triggering an all-out war between the two realms. Rather than openly attack the weakly defended Falcon worlds, the Lyrans would instead supply existing resistance fighters and stranded LCAF units already in place. It was hoped that the insurgents could reclaim valuable worlds for the Commonwealth in this fashion.

Black Ice prioritized planets that had fallen to the Falcons only in the past two decades, as the Falcons had not had time to assimilate the populations into their culture and Malvina Hazen's brutal rule ensured that they would feel no loyalty to their overlords. Worlds near Hesperus II were priority targets in order to build a buffer zone around the vital factory world. Alkaid was one such world, being used as a test case and ending in success with the Falcon garrison being reduced to a state of siege at the planet's spaceport. Pobeda, situated near Tharkad, was the site of another victory as the Black Ice team there liberated LCAF and Clan Wolf-in-Exile prisoners and got word of the departure of that world's front-line defenders to Tharkad; the planet was soon after taken by the Eleventh Donegal Guards.

Former Lyran planets held by the Wolf Empire, in contrast, were left untouched by Black Ice, as Archon Steiner did not want to provoke a response from Alaric Ward given her nation's record of failure against him and his Clan.

By mid-3152 the Black Ice program had managed to weaken Jade Falcon rule on many of the worlds bordering the Lyran Commonwealth. Although it had had limited success in outright restoring Lyran rule to these planets, Black Ice had, potentially, given the Lyran military an opening to reclaim them once it had recovered from its mauling of the previous decade. However, Black Ice proved less successful in stirring up pro-Lyran resistance to the breakaway Tamar Pact on Graceland and Arcturus as that state found its feet.

Bibliography

• Hour of the Wolf (novel)
• Tamar Rising