Battle of Wayside (3058)

Battle of Wayside V
Part of The Clan Invasion Era
Start Date From July to August 3058
Planet Wayside V
Result Inner Sphere and Clan Nova Cat victory
Factions
(Attacker)
Draconis Combine
Clan Nova Cat		 (Defender)
Clan Smoke Jaguar
Commanders and leaders
Colonel Andrea Stirling Galaxy Commander Devon Osis
Conditions
Normal


The Battle of Wayside V is a military operation that was undertaken by the Draconis Combine against Clan Smoke Jaguar in the Periphery in July to September 3058. [1]

Operation Brief

The military operation took place mainly on the surface and space of Wayside V and within a large swath of the Clan Nova Cat Occupation Zone.

Operation History

Factions & Known Units Involved in the Conflict

Draconis Combine

Clan Smoke Jaguar
Clan Nova Cat

Origins of Conflict

After the Battle of Tukayyid, the Clans were forced to stop their advance, but both raiding took place from both sides against enemy space, particularly by Clan Smoke Jaguar and Clan Jade Falcon and particularly in the frontier along the Draconis Combine. ComStar's Explorer Corps partnered with the Combine, attempting to backtrack along the Exodus Road to locate the Clan Homeworlds, where the main Clan factories and training centers were located. Clan security measures made this a difficult task, but by 3058, the Explorer Corps had located a Smoke Jaguar base in the Deep Periphery: Wayside. The planet was identified as a logistic and supply base, and the Combine decided to attack it and cut off the Jaguars' supply lines.

With DCMS troops already tied up, the Combine sent Omi Kurita to Northwind, bearing a gift for the Highlanders, and an offer. She returned the battle standard of the First Kearny Highlanders, captured during the battle of Lincoln in 2802 by the DCMS. She then offered them a contract, calling for a full regiment to attack the base, with a battalion to follow on for garrison duty. The expected forces were a single Provisional Garrison Cluster with second-line 'Mechs, with no OmniMechs or aerospace elements. The Highlanders sent some of their best: the entire regiment of Stirling's Fusiliers with a reinforcement battalion from MacLeod's Regiment.[2] The Combine had even arranged a command circuit of JumpShips to ferry the Fusiliers to the Periphery as quickly as possible.

However, the Explorer Corps had made a serious mistake: Wayside V - known as "WildCat" to the Jaguars - wasn't a simple supply base, but the training grounds for the newly-formed Tau Galaxy, equipped with two and a half clusters of first-line OmniMechs and under the command of Devon Osis in preparation for launching attacks against the nearby worlds held by the Nova Cats.[3]

Launch of the Operation

Stirling's XO, Lieutenant Colonel Loren Jaffray had been strengthening the Fusiliers' training and adapting their tactics to fight the Clans. Due to the short time period, some final preparations had to be done on the way to Wayside. Departing Northwind on 15 May, the force arrived in-system via a pirate point on 3 July, detached their DropShips and approached Wayside. The Highlanders discovered Tau's presence too late to turn around, with Tau's escorting WarShip the Dark Claw on the way. With no other feasible option but to push forward, Colonel Stirling made a batchall to the Jaguar commander, hoping to prevent the use of the Clanners' WarShip or at least get an idea of what they were facing.[4][5]

The DropShips were attacked by Jaguar aerospace fighters upon reaching the atmosphere. None of the DropShips were truly destroyed, but all were damaged to varying degrees, with the Combine's Retribution crashing. The Fusiliers deployed under fire, with the Stonewall forced to jump-deploy their onboard 'Mechs and the Bull Run managing to make a landing to offload despite damage, and the Claymore managing to land despite severe damage. The Combine company onboard the Retribution were immediately attacked by a Jaguar Binary led by Star Captain Kerndon. Only the timely arrival of Jaffray's command company changed the tide. However, Loren was forced to blow up the Retributions hydrogen tank to finish off the Jaguars, an act that saved the Combine liaison officer, Sho-sa Elden Parkensen, and yielded the Fusiliers a full Binary of Clan salvage. Kerndon was captured alive, the only survivor of his unit. [6] The Stonewall was a loss, managing to land but damaged beyond repair by a Clan OmniFighter's suicide run. The operation had gone sour almost immediately, with no way to retreat offworld, drastically superior forces against them, and no reinforcements expected for thirty-six days.[7]

Ground Battles

Lacking better choices, the Highlanders settled for a long guerrilla operation, hoping to hold out until reinforcements could arrive. Jaffray conceived an audacious plan that bordered on suicidal - escaping Wayside with a single DropShip and the salvaged Clan 'Mechs they had taken, posing as Smoke Jaguars, and launching several raids at nearby Nova Cat systems, leaving clues to draw them back to Wayside to fight the Jaguars for them. Stirling reluctantly agreed, allowing him to take barely a company of troops, including Kerndon himself.[8]

Loren's Campaign

Before departing, Jaffray led an ambush against the first attacking unit: a Cluster of light OmniMechs on a headhunting attack launched on 4 July. Thanks to Kerndon's advice, Star Colonel Roberta was surrounded, refused to surrender, and died along with her unit.[9] The Bull Run was chosen as the DropShip for Loren's mission, being the most intact of the three, and evaded the Dark Claw's attempted interception by launching numerous escape pods and torpedoes filled with explosives. The attack caught the Jaguars by surprise and crippled the WarShip, leaving it unable to pursue. Meanwhile, the Claymore launched only briefly, before feigning a crash at a strategic strait on the planet and deploying two companies of Fusiliers as a choke-point to buy time for the rest of the regiment to arrive.[10]

Loren's task force began their campaign on system EC-EY-4170, which was home to a Nova Cat Recharge Station. On 8 July, Jaffray posed as the Smoke Jaguar Star Colonel Jaffray and issued a batchall to obtain four recharges for his JumpShip, to allow it to go and return quickly. In the trial, he and another MechWarrior faced another 'Mech and several Elementals. They managed to defeat them without casualties.[11] In the next planet, Boltin, Loren's task force fought a Trial of Refusal over a former Jaguar base containing warehouses and a water-processing plant. On 17 July, the Nova Cats attacked them with a force of 'Mechs and attempted to surprise them with a group of Elementals that infiltrated the buildings, but Jaffray simply collapsed the building over the Elementals. While they completed their objectives and netted some salvage, they lost one of their own. Worse, they were forced to destroy the body to prevent their deception from being uncovered.[12] The 25 July, Jaffray's blooded task force attacked their last target: Tarnby, to send a HPG message to Wayside V, where they suffered heavy losses. They were on the brink of defeat when the Nova Cat Colonel, Santin West, impressed by the Jaguars bravery, allowed them to depart, but assembled a force to pursue them.[13][14]

On Wayside

On Wayside, the 10 July, the Fusiliers faced the Jaguars attack at the Straits, a narrow pass. In front of them was the 101st Bloodied Claws Cluster. The Jaguars attempted to pass a hidden force to attack the Highlanders' backs while the bulk of the Cluster attacked frontally, but the use of a satellite by the Fusiliers allowed them to uncover the plan. Star Colonel Roberta, the Jaguar leader, despite being discovered, attacked anyway. The Highlanders contained the attack while a force led by major Kurt Blakadar attacked the Jaguars' flanks. The Fusiliers finished off the Jaguars, but at a high cost.[15] After the battle of the Isthmus, the Highlanders sent a small force to destroy the Jaguars airfield and fighters. Though it was discovered and suffered an air attack, part of the unit survived and accomplished their mission, depriving the Jaguars of their air support.[16] To win more time, the bulk of the Highlanders retreated towards the southwest. After mounting a trap into the Claymore, which blew, killing some Jaguar Elementals on board, they travelled through the airless continent, but had to leave behind the vehicles unable to cross it. An rearguard, led by Major Cullen Craig, attempted to hold off the attacking Jaguars, but they were crushed. Most survivors surrendered, but Devon Osis ordered their execution. Craig was one of the few survivors.[17]

The Highlanders situation was desperate, but then finally received good news: the expected battalion of McLeod's Fusiliers arrived on system, and soon after, the remains of Loren's task force... and they weren't alone.[18]

Final Battle

The Jaguars' commander, Devon Osis, led the final assault, the 8 August, with all what remained of his Galaxy, but the sudden arrival of Chastity Mulvaney's battalion and his attack on the Jaguars' flanks forced them to break off their attack and regroup. And before they could attack again, Devon received a call from Santin West, which was there to destroy the Jaguars. A brutal fight ensued between both Clans. Loren's task force infiltrated into the battlefield, and killed Devon Osis when he was to kill Santin West. As Jaffray was wounded, his people had to evacuate him. The battle, in which the Highlanders didn't took part more, ended with the Nova Cats killing every Jaguar.[19][20]

Conflict Conclusion

After the battle ended, the surviving Nova Cats, barely a Trinary, faced the Highlanders. Santin West parleyed with Stirling. However, a new conflict was still possible... until she tell him than she was called the Cat. Unknown to her, West had had a vision about a Nova Cat, a Smoke Jaguar and another cat fighting each other. So he agreed to leave the Highlanders alone, and after recovering their dead ones, they departed, leaving Wayside V in Combine hands.[21]

Aftermath

For the Combine, Wayside V was a costly victory, but a victory anyway. They intended to keep the planet to launch raids, but soon after, they abandoned it. The Highlanders elders promoted Jaffray to Colonel rank and, with salvage of the battle, a new unit was created for him, specifically top fight the Clans: the Northwind Hussars. The Nova Cats celebrated the victory, and as Wayside V wasn't one of his planets, didn't make plans to recover it. West's actions won him great fame in his clan, and eventually he will become Khan of the Nova Cats. And for the Smoke Jaguars, the defeat put an end to their attempt to recover their forces weakened since Tukayyid. The name of Wilcat was permanently erased, and the hostility between his Clan and the Nova Cats only grew, which will cost them greatly soon. Wayside V became the preamble of Operation Bulldog.[22]

Gallery

  • Highlanders1.jpg

    Loren Jaffray with Parkensen

References

  1. ↑ Impetus of War
  2. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 2
  3. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 7
  4. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 9
  5. ↑ Northwind Highlanders (scenario pack), p. 32
  6. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 12
  7. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 13
  8. ↑ Northwind Highlanders (scenario pack), p. 35
  9. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 17
  10. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 21
  11. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 24
  12. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 33
  13. ↑ Northwind Highlanders (scenario pack), p. 42
  14. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 41
  15. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 25-27
  16. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 41
  17. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 42
  18. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 45
  19. ↑ Northwind Highlanders (scenario pack), p. 44
  20. ↑ Impetus of War, ch. 46-48
  21. ↑ Impetus of War ch. 48
  22. ↑ Impetus of War Epilogue

Bibliography

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