Battle of Coventry (3148)
Sarna News
| Battle of Coventry (3148) | |
|---|---|
| Conflict details | |
| Start Date | 15 February 3148[1] |
| End Date | 15 March 3148[2] |
| Planet(s) | Coventry |
| Location(s) | Port St. William, Cross Divide Mountains, Ridesein River Valley, Whitting, Dales, Lietnerton |
| Result | Lyran Commonwealth victory |
| Territorial Changes | No change |
| Attacking Forces | |
| Affiliation | Clan Jade Falcon |
| Commanding Officer(s) | Galaxy Commander Stephanie Chistu |
| Command(s) | First Falcon Striker Cluster[1][3] Fourth Falcon Dragoons[1][3] Fifth Battle Cluster[1] Eleventh Falcon Velites[1] Fifty-third Falcon Talon[1] Third Falcon Talon[1][3] Ninth Falcon Talon[1][4] |
| Defending Forces | |
| Affiliation | Lyran Commonwealth |
| Commanding Officer(s) | Leutnant-General Francine Ross
Reinforcements: |
| Command(s) | 17th Arcturan Guards Coventry CPM Coventry Military Academy Reinforcements: |
| Other Forces | |
Prelude
As Khan of Clan Jade Falcon, Malvina Hazen knew that in addition to the military conflict she faced with the Lyran Commonwealth and other Clans, the Falcons also faced a philosophical conflict within their own ranks. While most of the Warriors followed Malvina's Mongol Doctrine, there were some Traditionalists who did not, and she feared the Falcons were in danger of sliding back into those "misguided ideals of what constitutes honor." One of the highest-ranking Traditionalists was Galaxy Commander Stephanie Chistu of Delta Galaxy, in an effort to coopt her to the Mongol doctrine, Khan Hazen assigned her the target of Coventry with orders to put Whitting, Lietnerton, and the Coventry Military Academy to the torch, for which Chistu was ordered to take a stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons. In doing so, the Falcons would also grind to ash some of the last memorials to the Second Star League. To assist with this, Star Colonel Yaroslav and the Third and Ninth Falcon Talon from Gamma Galaxy were attached to Delta, though both Hazen and Chistu knew they were there more as minders to ensure a properly Mongol campaign.[5][3][4][1]
The Lyran Intelligence Corps had detected this concentration of forces on Upano but were unable to predict which of the most likely targets the Falcons would strike; Coventry or Donegal. Accordingly, General of the Armies Roderick Steiner ordered picket ships into each system with orders to immediately jump out and send word back to the LCAF forces staging on Vorzel when the Falcons arrived.[6]
Overview
On 15 February 3148 the Falcon flotilla jumped into a pirate point in the Coventry system.[3] Their arrival was detected by a picket JumpShip which obtained visual images of the flotilla and then jumped out to alert the LCAF response force staging on Vorzel.[4] After hearing nothing from the invaders, Leutnant-General Francine Ross radioed to inquire if the Falcons intended to issue a batchall. She received a response from Chistu, "Per the will of Khan Malvina Hazen, neg. You are not to be granted the honor of a batchall. Prepare to feel our wrath." There was a brief orbital battle, but once the flotilla blew past the outer fighter screens and space superiority was lost, the surviving Lyran aerospace assets were withdrawn to be used in a ground support and air superiority missions. Among these was the LCS Necessity, a Trutzburg-class Transport DropShip which grounded near the capital city of Port St. William to serve as fire support and a command center.[3][1][7]
After pushing through the orbital defenses the Falcon DropShips, led by Chistu's flagship, the modified Overlord-C-class Admiral DiFranco, approached Port St. William Spaceport on the same trajectory used in the 3058 Incursion, per the Khan's orders. Flying at nap-of-the-earth altitude, the Falcon DropShips disgorged their troops over the Spaceport. Galaxy Commander Chistu led the way in her customized Jade Hawk, followed by the other ’Mechs and Elementals of First Falcon Striker Cluster from the DiFranco and other DropShips. In a lesson from history, she ordered a fast perimeter be formed a block out from the Spaceport and for smoke rounds to be deployed to obfuscate the landing zone to Lyran artillery in the hills that had so bloodied the Second Falcon Jaeger Cluster nearly a century earlier. Guarding the Spaceport was a lance of light BattleMechs consisting of an UrbanMech and a Hatchetman, and a reinforced platoon of armor consisting of matched pairs of Hetzers, SM1 Tank Destroyers, and Bellonas. Of those ten units, only the Hatchetman and a Bellona survived. Losses for the Falcons were virtually nonexistent, though MechWarrior Sockwell had his Eyrie downed by circling hovercraft and earned the ignoble distinction of "First Blood" for the day.[3][1]
As the spaceport was being secured, Lyran artillery began firing onto the landing zone. With their spotters hampered by smoke rounds, these amounted to little before Star Captain McKinney led his OmniFighters on strike sorties to silence the guns hidden among the surrounding hills and in the city itself. The LCS Necessity proved both formidable and resilient as they sowed the spaceport with incendiary and FASCAM munitions that slowed the Falcon advance enough to allow later ambushes to be set. When Falcon aircraft came to challenge her, a combination of her own fighters, artillery flak, and Extended LRMs drove them off. Ultimately the Necessity was boarded by Elementals and her guns silenced. With Lyran artillery silenced, Chistu ordered the rest of her DropShips to land at the spaceport with one exception – the Render was detached on a strategic mission. Handing spaceport security off to the Fourth Falcon Dragoons with a perimeter pushed out to three blocks while the other Clusters landed, the First Strikers pushed northwest into the city.[3][7][1][8][9][10][11][12][13]
Aftermath
After this battle, on 21 July 3148 on Pobeda,Stephanie Chistu presented Cynthy with a dagger Stephanie had forged. On 23 April 3151 at 1412 on Terra, Cynthy plunged that dagger into Malvina's back, hitting a pulmonary artery, which quickly resulted in her death.[14][15]
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 Shattered Fortress, pp. 49-51: "The Falcons Advance"
- ↑ The Anvil, ch. 10
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 The Anvil, ch. 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Anvil, ch. 4
- ↑ The Anvil, ch. 1
- ↑ The Anvil, ch. 2
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Technical Readout: 3150, p. 218: "Trutzburg"
- ↑ Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 11, p. 13: "Zeus"
- ↑ Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 11, p. 4: "Ion Sparrow (Butcherbird)"
- ↑ Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 15, p. 4: "RWD-R1 Rawhide"
- ↑ Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 15, p. 13: "Black Lanner"
- ↑ Recognition Guide: ilClan, vol. 17, p. 10: "Bane (Kraken)"
- ↑ Technical Readout: 3150, p. 60: "Skanda Light Tank"
- ↑ The Anvil, ch. Epilogue
- ↑ Hour of the Wolf, ch. 38 - wound description and effects consistent with traumatic pulmonary artery injury