Coventry

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Coventry

Coventry
System Information
X:Y Coordinates-257.862 : 221.263[e]
Star names1
Spectral classF4V[1][2]
Recharge time175 hours[2]
Recharge station(s)Nadir, Zenith[1][2]

The Coventry system was home to at least one habitable world, Coventry III, and as at 3145 was the administrative capital of the Coventry Province of the Lyran Commonwealth.[3][4]

System Description

The Coventry system is located near the Sabhal Mòr Ostaig and Tsinan systems[5][6] and consists of a class F4V primary orbited by at least three worlds. During the thirty-first century a recharge station was in place at the both the nadir and zenith jump points.[1][2]

System History

The Coventry system was colonized at some point in the late twenty-fourth century, after the founding of the Lyran Commonwealth.[7][8]

Political Affiliation

Coventry III

Template:InfoBoxPlanetStandard Coventry III - more commonly referred to simply as Coventry - is the third planet in the system and has a single moon named Wellston. Coventry is a major industrial world and has served as the administrative capital of a province within the Lyran Commonwealth.[2]

Planetary History

Age of War

During the last fifteen years of Archon Robert Marsden's rule the new wealth generated by the resurgent economy of the Lyran Commonwealth gave the military the resources to engage in new experiments, and those experiments in turn generated the inspiration for a large military sciences center on Coventry.[8]

In 2461 Coventry was the site of a Draconis Combine raid that secured the designs for BattleMechs, giving House Kurita the technology that for a brief period of time was giving House Steiner a great advantage in combat.[9][38]

Coventry grew to become a major trade center within the Lyran Commonwealth and both an industrial and agricultural powerhouse. At various points a number of major military manufacturers had facilities on Coventry but the planet managed to retain the look of a paradise and even had a moderate tourism business based around various islands.[39]

Star League

During the final years of the Star League, Coventry was the host to a Star League Defense Force garrison. In attempt to bond with the local populace and keep their skills up, the resident SLDF commander arranged a series of training missions with the local Coventry Military Academy. At first things went well, but as both sides grew more competitive, a brawl between both the students and the SLDF soldiers broke out. This helped to create a divisive atmosphere.[40][41]

Succession Wars and Later

Coventry was target of many assaults; notable conflicts included: a deep raid by the Free Worlds League in 3006, highlighting the weakness of Archon Alessandro Steiner's Operation CONCENTRATED WEAKNESS,[42] the Clan Jade Falcon's Incursion from March 15th to May 10th 3058, FedCom Civil War revolts in 3062, the Word of Blake's occupation of Coventry during the Jihad and the subsequent liberation of Coventry in 3074.

Clan Invasion

The Jade Falcon Incursion

The campaign that came to known as the Jade Falcon Incursion was a direct result of the Jade Falcon need to prove the strength of their touman in the aftermath of the bitter Refusal War fought against Clan Wolf and thereby fend off attacks from the other Clans. The Incursion quickly became a battle of vital consequence to both the Falcons and the Inner Sphere, as the nations of the Inner Sphere needed to quickly quash the incursion or risk the other Clans seeing Jade Falcon successes as a sign of weakness on the part of the Inner Sphere and a direct encouragement to launch a further wave of attacks or even another full-scale invasion.[43]

The Jade Falcon Incursion began on the 30th of January 3058, with a wave of attacks that hit the Bucklands, Engadine, Neerabup and Willunga systems, swiftly defeating most of the defending forces in bloody battles that typically saw technologically advanced Jade Falcon BattleMechs facing outdated garrison 'Mechs or even, as was the case with the Bucklands Militia, AgroMechs retrofitted with armor plate and heavy machine guns.[44]

The Lyran half of the Federated Commonwealth had only recently split away and declared itself the Lyran Alliance, under the rule of Archon Katherine Steiner (who preferred to be referred to as Katrina Steiner). Rather than launching a wide-scale broadcast and response to the Jade Falcon invasion, Katherine Steiner embarked on a different plan, traveling to the Kiamba system in the Clan Smoke Jaguar Occupation Zone with the intention of proposing an alliance against the Jade Falcons to representatives from the Smoke Jaguars, an alliance that would also help defend the Alliance against both Federated Commonwealth and Clan Wolf forces. Arriving at Kiamba on the 12th of February 3058, Katherine instead found that she had arrived while a force from Clan Wolf was returning to its JumpShips after an assault on Kiamba. Katherine's JumpShip, the Boadicea, was captured by Clan Wolf, who declared her a bondsman. Katherine promptly changed plans and instead suggested a mutual alliance to Khan Vlad Ward of the Wolves.[44]

While Katherine negotiated with the Wolves General Nondi Steiner and Mandrinn Tormano Liao acted on behalf of the Archon and imposed a communications blackout in an effort to slow the spread of news from the invaded systems and prevent outside factions from learning of any real or imagined weakness on the part of the Lyran Alliance Armed Forces. LAAF units in the region were put on high alert, particularly those on the predicted invasion path, and negotiations were conducted to hire mercenary units to augment the LAAF; General Steiner and Mandrinn Liao accurately extrapolated that the intended Jade Falcon target was Coventry.[44]

Port St. William Spaceport/Coventry Military Academy

The initial two targets attacked on Coventry by the Jade Falcons were the Port St. William Spaceport and the nearby Coventry Military Academy. The spaceport was attacked first, although the attack on the Academy began whilst the fighting still raged at the spaceport. The Second Falcon Jaegers attacked the spaceport via a high-speed combat drop, battling the Third Battalion of the Tenth Skye Rangers. Kommandant Heinrich Oheler commanded the Third Battalion and was unable to call on air support, but attempted to battle the Jaegers with a combination of a rolling defensive artillery barrage and direct attacks. Due to an error on the part of either Oheler or the fire director the initial artillery bombardment fell short, inflicting damage on local buildings including a large petrochemical storage facility that promptly exploded, inflicting a number of civilian casualties. Although infantry spotters from the Third managed to redirect the artillery and inflict casualties on the Jaegers, the Jaegers successfully pushed the Tenth Skye Rangers forces out of the spaceport, and the Third Battalion withdrew to a location northeast of the city to regroup.[45]

The attack on the Coventry Military Academy was assigned to the Jade Falcon Eyrie Cluster and swiftly descended into a conflict split between two distinct styles of warfare. The unit leaders and instructors from the Academy staff and the Jade Falcon Eyrie engaged in a deadly precise long-range battles and ambushes, but the Academy cadets and the unblooded Jade Falcon MechWarriors engaged in close-quarter melees with each other. The Lyran cadets continued to pound defeated Jade Falcon 'Mechs into scrap, rather than tackling fresh targets, while the Jade Falcon warriors continued to brawl with the Academy cadets rather than fight at longer ranges. The defense of the Academy was brutal, but eventually the superior Clan technology proved too much of an advantage, and the surviving Academy cadets and instructors attempted to retreat a predesignated rally point east of the Academy, leaving the Academy in ruins behind them - with the administration and science buildings being destroyed by the retreating Academy forces specifically to keep vital records out of the hands of the Falcons. One small group of trainees failed to understand the orders given by Kommandant Luther Rohorson, the Academy commander, and instead attempted to retreat into Port St. William, where they ran directly into the Second Falcon Jaegers. The shocked cadets fought a desperate battle, refusing to break, but were defeated by the Jaegers with the few survivors being taken as bondsmen.[46]

Coventry Metal Works

Possibly the most valuable prize on the planet, the Jade Falcon attempt to capture the Coventry Metal Works main processing plant was assigned to the Gyrfalcon Eyrie Cluster under the command of Star Colonel Devin Buhallin. The Gyrfalcon Eyrie Cluster also contained a number of unblooded warriors, and due to concerns over likely casualties from any combat drop into the difficult terrain around the factory the Gyrfalcon Eyrie grounded at the nearby factory. The Falcons intended for the attack on the factory to serve as a Trial of Position for many of the new MechWarriors, but faced a furious defense even before making planetfall. The Coventry Aerospace Defense Force had mustered in the defense of the factory and launched a heavy attack on the Jade Falcon DropShips as they descended, claiming a Broadsword and its cargo in the first pass alone. The Gyrfalcon aerospace fighters and DropShips engaged in response, but the intensity of the aerial battle was such that Buhallin redirected the DropShips to an alternative landing zone two kilometers further away from the plant, rather than risk trying to land and disembark while in the teeth of a heavy air attack.[47]

The main defending force at the plant was the Second Coventry Donegal March Militia, commanded by Kommandant Claudia Peyman, a veteran of the Clan Invasion. Peyman's troops were reservists and retirees in Succession Wars-era equipment, and she knew that she couldn't win in a direct engagement against Clan OmniMechs; Peyman had her forces reposition to a point between the grounded Jade Falcon DropShips and then hunker down in prepared positions, not realizing that many of the Jade Falcon 'Mechs were actually second-line 'Mechs, with only the Star Commanders piloting OmniMechs. The Gyrfalcons closed swiftly on the Coventry Militia's position, only to run into the teeth of a series of strafing runs and attacks from Gamma Flight of the Coventry Aerospace Defense Force. Jade Falcon fighters managed to drive off the CADF fighters, but the Gyrfalcons were then engaged at close range by the Militia 'Mechs. The Gyrfalcons broke up into small groups, with each group attacking an individual Militia position, with the battle swiftly becoming a savage brawl. Star Colonel Buhallin engaged Peyman directly, but was killed by a Militia Firestarter that attacked his Man O' War from behind, overheating the OmniMech and causing Buhallin to eject before the vengeful Firestarter pilot turned his machine guns on Buhallin. Even as Buhallin was killed, a Clan fighter strafed the Militia lines, destroying the Firestarter and its pilot and breaching the cockpit of Peyman's Banshee, leaving her unconscious. Peyman bled to death while the battle continued; the Militia was ultimately forced to retreat, but the brutal engagement claimed two-thirds of the Gyrfalcons as casualties.[47]

The surviving Lyran forces from the battles at the Academy, Coventry Metal Works and Port St. William attempted to make a strategic retreat into the hinterlands while a number of Jade Falcon commanders attempted to run down the retreating forces; while some of the Jade Falcon pursuits were successful, many failed. The Lyran survivors and those Lyran forces not engaged in the initial attacks promptly launched a guerrilla campaign against the Falcons, as they were unable to bring together enough strength for a full counterattack; meanwhile, the Jade Falcons brought in new troops, frantically trying to replace the losses taken.[47]

Among the more successful guerrilla actions was that conducted by the First Battalion of the Tenth Skye Rangers. The commanding officer of the First Battalion was Kommandant Jorst Sarz, an incompetent but politically-connected officer. Sarz's response to the news of the approaching Jade Falcon forces was to get roaring drunk; the commanding officer of the First's Second Company, Hauptmann Caradoc Trevena, promptly assumed command of the First and led them away from their garrison at the Mckenzy molecular Smelter, a hundred kilometers north of Port St. William, and into the canyons, mine tunnels and cave complexes that riddled the Cross-Divide Mountains. From there, Trevena led the First in a series of daring raids and hit and run attacks that forced the Falcons to assign an increasing number of units to trying to pin down the First.[48]

Trevana's raiding campaign culminated in a strike against a Falcon supply base near Collivette guarded by front-line and second line elements of the Fifth Battle Cluster. A lance from the Second Company of the Tenth Rangers commanded by Leftenant Isobel Murdoch struck directly at the depot, destroying the second-line 'Mechs and the Elemental forces guarding the depot and seizing supplies before fading back into the nearby tunnels; as Murdoch's lance was attacking the depot, Trevana led the other two lances from the Second Company on an attack against the Falcon forces lured away from the depot and into a narrow pass in pursuit of falsified sensor readings. The forces from the First Battalion then regrouped in the subterranean tunnel system, where analysis of the observations made by Murdoch over the apparent regrouping of Jade Falcon forces indicated that either the Jade Falcons were readying to abandon Coventry or were preparing to face a larger, more capable opponent than the First Battalion. The arrival of reinforcements visible in the skies above Coventry confirmed that a relief force had arrived.[48]

The Coventry Expeditionary Force

While the opening battles raged on Coventry, Mandrinn Liao had assembled a mercenary force on Tharkad intended to act as either a relief force for Coventry or a defensive force for Tharkad, depending on whether the Jade Falcons attempted to push towards Tharkad or not. Hired in Katherine Steiner's name, the core of this Coventry Expeditionary Force (CEF) were Delta and Gamma Regiments of Wolf's Dragoons, augmented by a regiment from the Eridani Light Horse (described as the First Light Horse Regiment[49] but actually the Seventy-first Light Horse Regiment[50]). Tormana also hired Waco's Rangers, despite the antagonism between the Rangers and the Dragoons; Tormana's intention was for the Rangers to either augment the defense of Tharkad or to assist Tormana in escaping from Tharkad if Katherine blamed him personally for the failure of any resulting military operations. Katherine returned to Tharkad ahead of the launch of operations, and insisted that Waco's Rangers deploy alongside the rest of the CEF to liberate Coventry.[49]

The CEF relief operation began on the 10th of April, with the Eridani Light Horse JumpShips Bosworth and Falkirk arriving in the Coventry system at the same pirate point used by the Jade Falcons and deploying the Light Horse in a wave of Overlord and Leopard-class DropShips before jumping out-system. The Light Horse DropShips completed a classic fast-insertion pass, opposed only by Falcon defensive fighter groups as they slowed to deploy the Light Horse forces via high-altitude combat drops. The fighters were unable to prevent the Light Horse forces from making groundfall, and while elements of the First Falcon Striker Cluster engaged the Light Horse forces on the ground, the First retreated late in the day when the last of the Light Horse forces landed in the city of Lietnerton.[49]

While the Eridani Light Horse battle drew to a close, Delta Regiment of Wolf's Dragoons began their landings; Colonel Shelly Brubaker issued a batchall to the Jade Falcons in a remarkably brazen fashion, announcing that she intended to attack and destroy the Port St. William spaceport using just one of Delta's three battalions. Star Colonel Creed Mattlov accepted Brubaker's batchall, declaring that two Trinaries of the Twelfth Falcon Regulars would meet the Dragoons on the flatlands east of Port St. William. In compliance with the tenets of zellbrigen Mattlov allowed the Dragoon DropShip Bayard to land uncontested, and Brubaker led the First Battalion of Delta Regiment in an attack on the spaceport. The Dragoon 'Mechs swiftly powered through the initial defenders in their light and medium OmniMechs and went on a fifteen-minute rampage, wreaking havoc as they destroyed facilities, supplies and equipment, before the remaining elements of the two Falcon Trinaries arrived and engaged the Dragoons in a ferocious close-quarter battle. The battle at the Spaceport was more brutal than any yet fought on Coventry, with 'Mechs on both sides not only attacking each other with weapons but also using broken girders as clubs. The savage melee went on for less than twenty minutes before Brubaker called for reinforcements, leaving Mattlov free to bring in additional forces as well; the battle escalated sharply in response, peaking with more than one hundred and fifty 'Mechs and large quantities of armored and unarmored infantry battling in the burning spaceport. The battle finally ended when the Dragoons withdrew, each claiming some form of victory; the Falcons had forced the Dragoons to withdraw, but the Dragoons had inflicted enough damage on the spaceport to make it unusable for the Falcons.[51]

The last of the CEF forces to land on Coventry were the Waco Rangers and a small attached mercenary unit named the Crazy Eights. Ordered to conduct a DropShip landing rather than a combat drop, the Rangers conducted a landing in the face of stiff opposition, destroying two Stars of OmniFighters and a number of OmniMechs and Elementals in the process, with General Ariana Winston of the Eridani Light Horse working hard to calm down the tensions between Wayne Rogers and Brubaker[51] as the Waco Rangers battled the Third Falcon Talon Cluster.[52]

Positioning

Following the CEF's landing, the Jade Falcon and CEF forces began a series of probing raids, each intended to test the strength of their opponents, while the CEF and the remaining forces from the Coventry garrison attempted to join up. On the 15th of April Hauptmann Trevena successfully managed to link the First Battalion of the Tenth Skye Rangers up with Waco's Rangers - narrowly avoiding a blue-on-blue engagement at first sighting - while the CEF dispatched a task force to help the remains of the Tenth Skye Rangers, the Academy cadets and the remaining Coventry Militia forces out of an enclosed pocket around the town of Whitting.[53]

When the various Lyran and mercenary forces had managed to successfully meet up and regroup around Lietnerton, the CEF command staff initiated a battle plan that revolved a three-pronged attack against the Jade Falcon forces at Port St. William. The first prong was a direct attack on the Jade Falcon forces by Wolf's Dragoons and the Eridani Light Horse; the second prong was the remaining Coventry Militia, Academy and Skye Rangers forces, who were to act as a screening force, preventing more mobile Jade Falcon formations reinforcing the forces at Port St. William, while the third prong was a deep raid on the Jade Falcon rear elements, to be conducted by Waco's Rangers and the Crazy Eights. To get in position, the Waco Rangers would have had to be led through a local region known as the Dales by Trevena and the Second Company of the Tenth Skye Rangers, avoiding contact with the Jade Falcons until after the main attack on Port St. William was underway.[53]

The Jade Falcons had been laying plans of their own; Star Colonel Arimas Malthus didn't believe the intelligence reports that indicated that Waco's Rangers had been left in Lietnerton to guard the CEF base, based on the known hatred between the Rangers and the Dragoons, and Malthus accurately predicted that the Rangers were actually being deployed elsewhere, and identified the Dales as the most likely location. Malthus formed two ad-hoc Clusters, designated Harrier group and Red Tail group, by skimming elements from the three Galaxies of Jade Falcon forces gathered at Port St. William. Harrier consisted of light OmniMechs, while Red Tail was formed from heavy and assault elements, and the two Clusters were tasked with putting an ambush in place in the Dales. Malthus' plan stretched the boundaries of the Clan honor system, but Khan Marthe Pryde endorsed it based upon its tactical soundness, albeit while banning the Falcons from engaging in any similarly deceptive tactics in future engagements.[53]

Malthus' ambush proved highly successful; Harrier group engaged the Waco Rangers and Crazy Eights, leading them into a large field between the Dales and Port St. William, and the Red Tail group launched a heavy assault on the mercenaries once all the mercenary 'Mechs were in the field. The ambush destroyed more than four-fifths of the Waco Rangers and Crazy Eights, and losses would've been higher if Trevena's company hadn't fought a delaying action to assist them; it was only the arrival of Delta Regiment of Wolf's Dragoons, deployed to relieve Waco's forces, that the Waco Rangers and Crazy Eights escaped annihilation.[53]

Siege of Lietnerton

With the attack on Port St. William disrupted by the need to rescue the Waco Rangers and Crazy Eights, the CEF was forced to withdraw back to Lietnerton and wait for relief. The Jade Falcons lay siege to the city, keeping the pressure up on the CEF and the remaining Coventry garrison forces, while the CEF supply of parts, ammunition, armor and uninjured personnel steadily dwindled. On the 8th of May, having kept the siege up for weeks, the Jade Falcons launched a major attack on Lietnerton. The Eyrie Cluster led the attack, launching a spearhead against the surviving Tenth Skye Rangers and Coventry Militia forces, but despite being exhausted, the defenders refused to break or abandon their position. Kommandant Jasper Greer of the Skye Rangers used artillery support from the one remaining Rangers Thumper battery to slow the Falcon attack, while General Ariana Winston deployed aerospace forces in support; the battle raged for four hours before the Jade Falcons withdrew, unable to breach the defenses in the face of the combined artillery and air strikes, with both sides having taken heavy casualties.[54]

The Jade Falcons launched another attack on the 9th of May, this time attempting to support their attack with artillery by deploying mobile Long Tom artillery pieces captured from the Tenth Skye Rangers main base. The Clan warriors were inexperienced in the use of artillery, and as a result their efforts were largely unsuccessful, with the majority of the artillery shells overflying the fortifications and landing in the deserted civilian regions of Lietnerton. Unfazed by the poor artillery barrage, Colonel Sandra Barclay of the Eridani Light Horse used the defenders artillery pieces to launch a barrage against the attacking Trinary Alpha of the 305th Assault Cluster before destroying the Falcon's captured artillery pieces in a furious counter-battery bombardment.[54]

Star Colonel Arimas Malthus attempted to respond to the loss of his artillery by deploying aerospace fighters under the command of Star Captain Janice Folkner with some initial success at providing close-air support, but Barclay responded by deploying the Eridani Light Horse's own fighters to interdict the Clan fighters, and after a hard-fought battle on the ground and in the air, the Jade Falcons retreated again.[54]

The Lyran forces attempted to launch a counterstrike on May the 10th, intending to attack the marshaling areas used by the Jade Falcons and thereby disrupt any planned attacks; the plan composed by General Judith Niemyer of the Coventry Militia and General Winston called for an initial aerial bombardment followed by a ground assault led by Wolf's Dragoons, but a storm front closed in just as the Lyran aerospace fighters had finished launching. The Lyran aerospace forces attempted to complete their mission despite the weather, only to be discovered by chance by Jade Falcon fighters. As the two groups began engaging each other additional Lyran fighters scrambled, many only partially-fueled and armed, and a sprawling dogfight ensued. The Jade Falcon fighters fought doggedly, forcing many of the Lyran fighters assigned to the initial attack to ditch their air-to-ground ordnance, and as a consequence the Lyran attack had to be called off.[55]

Relief

The ground campaign on Coventry had effectively bogged down the Jade Falcon advance, but Katherine Steiner had finally issued requests for assistance to the other Inner Sphere nations. Captain-General Thomas Marik of the Free Worlds League had dispatched the Knights of the Inner Sphere to assist in the defense of Tharkad, whilst Chancellor Sun-Tzu Liao dispatched the Harloc Raiders with similar orders. Katherine dispatched both regiments along with the remaining three regiments of Wolf's Dragoons and the Eleventh Lyran Guards to relieve the CEF.[56]

Katherine had also contacted Victor Steiner-Davion for assistance, but deliberately underestimated the strength of the Jade Falcon forces on Coventry, possibly in an effort to engineer his injury or death in any relief effort. Victor was on Tukayyid participating in a ComStar-led series of wargames when the Jade Falcon incursion began, along with a number of other senior leaders from various factions, all of whom had been following the available reports of the fighting closely. Despite many of the forces on Tukayyid having been bitter rivals only a few years before the incursion, Victor was able to assemble a force consisting of two regiments of the Kell Hounds drawn from their base on Arc-Royal, along with the Davion Heavy Guards, the First Genyosha, the First St. Ives Lancers and the Com Guard Invader Galaxy, and led them on a separate relief mission to Coventry.[56]

Whitting

While the two relief forces traveled to Coventry, the remains of the CEF launched an attack based on a plan devised by Trevena. Bolstered by a quantity of ammunition, spare parts, field rations and medical supplies recovered from the caves under the Cross-Divide Mountains after the former quartermaster of the Tenth Skye Rangers was rescued amidst a group of refugees and informed them of the equipment cache's location, a mixed group led by Colonel Brubaker and drawn from Delta Regiment, Trevena's Scond company and a unit of dismounted MechWarriors and infantry formed into a tactical-response unit crossed the Cross-Divide Mountains using tunnel complexes the Jade Falcons hadn't discovered and launched an attack on the Falcons at Whitting on the 30th of May.[57]

As planned, Brubakers troops lured out the bulk of the Jade Falcon defenders and led them to the north; while a mobile battle between Delta Regiment and the Falcons raged back and forth, Trevena led his company into Whitting from the south and attacked the Jade Falcon headquarters there. Trevena's forces easily captured the town hall and the headquarters inside it, and spent forty minutes ransacking the location, gathering a raft of useful intelligence and capturing Star Colonel Arimas Malthus, before retreating from Whitting.[57]

Hegira

Following the success of the Whitting raid, the CEF remained determined to continue fighting against the Jade Falcons, and put in place plans to disperse its forces into small groups and wage a guerrilla campaign from the mountains. Work was underway to implement this plan when Victor Steiner-Davion arrived with the relief force on the 5th of June, all under the nominal command of Precentor Martial Anastasius Focht. The allied forces had correctly assumed that Focht's status following the victory on Tukayyid in 3052 would give him some influence over the Jade Falcons, and acting on advice from the former Prince of the Free Rasalhague Republic (and current Clan Wolf-in-Exile bondsman) Victor used his position as second-in-command to Focht to request safcon from the Jade Falcons. Marthe Pryde granted the allied forces safcon, announcing her intention ahead of any batchall to defend Coventry with all of her forces.[58]

Grounding at Lietnerton with permission from the Jade Falcons, the two groups exchanged force reports in accordance with Clan tradition before the leaders from each assembled at Whitting for the formal batchall four days later. Victor was faced with the knowledge that the two forces were approximately equal in strength, and that any resulting combat would inevitably be a long, drawn-out, damaging battle. He also knew that he couldn't afford to simply rescue the remaining elements of the CEF and the Coventry garrison, because that would be perceived as a devastating defeat for the Federated Commonwealth, the Inner Sphere, and him personally - a defeat that would likely escalate diplomatically and militarily, threatening the dissolution of the tenuously friendly bonds between the Federated Commonwealth and the Draconis Combine, as well as military gambits by the Free Worlds League and Capellan Confederation and efforts by the Word of Blake to displace Focht and Victor and further disrupt ComStar. Marthe Pryde was faced with a similar dilemma, as a message from Khan Ward of Clan Wolf had been received shortly before the arrival of the relief force, informing her that the Wolves were positioning forces with every intention of launching an invasion into the Jade Falcon Occupation Zone. Removing her forces from Coventry to defend the Occupation Zone would be perceived as an act of desperate weakness by the other Clans, inevitably resulting in her Clan being attacked en masse because of that perceived weakness, while leaving so much of the Jade Falcon touman locked in a destructive battle on Coventry would cede an unknown number of worlds to Clan Wolf, weakening the Jade Falcons - possibly fatally.[58]

When it came to the official negotiations, Victor surprised both Marthe Pryde and the other Jade Falcons in attendance by offering them hegira. No Inner Sphere commander had ever attempted to invoke the rite of hegira, which would allow the Jade Falcons to leave as a defeated opponent, but one with their forces and honor intact. Marthe Pryde accepted the offer and the Jade Falcon forces withdrew from Coventry. All prisoners were exchanged in accordance with Clan traditions, with those freed including Colonel Wayne Rogers. Hauptmann Trevena was offered a position within Wolf's Dragoons, but instead accepted a promotion from Victor to the rank of Leftenant General within the Armed Forces of the Federated Commonwealth, and was assigned to reviewing all future force operations of the Inner Sphere's anti-Clan coalition. The Jade Falcon withdrawal from Coventry left Victor in a position of additional influence in the Inner Sphere, while frustrating Katherine's efforts to become a noted peacemaker, laying the foundations for future operations against the Clans.[58]

The Jihad

The Word of Blake launched a raid on Coventry between the 14th and 17th of March 3068, while also launching raids on Donegal and Hesperus II; the three raids all featured support from Blakist WarShips or Pocket WarShips.[59] The Word of Blake later occupied Coventry, an occupation which would last until March 3074; the liberation began on the 16th of March, when a combined Clan Jade Falcon and Lyran Alliance Armed Forces task force[60] including the Aegis-class heavy cruiser CJF Red Talon[61] attacked the Word of Blake blockade of the world. Five days later, the task force had freed Coventry,[60][62] destroying the Aegis-class WoBS Immortal Spirit in the process.[63]

In the post-Jihad era the Coventry Metal Works factories began the daunting task of rebuilding; of all of the facilities across the Lyran Alliance that had been damaged but which could potentially be repaired, Coventry Metal Works was the most heavily damaged.[64] While Coventry Metal Works had escaped the sheer level of damage inflicted on some other industrial complexes, the Blakists had conducted so many different acts of sabotage on the facilities that the facilities were undergoing constant repair from their liberation onward, a cycle that lasted for years.[65] During this period Coventry continued to operate a refit facility at Trumbley Station based around a Coventry Metal Works warehousing location that developed into a refit facility during the struggle to liberate Coventry. While the site was only performing small-scale assembly work, the refit facility was still producing Scarabus and Stinger BattleMechs in 3079 as well as ensuring that the local garrison equipment was being maintained in peak condition.[2]

Coventry Military Academy was rebuilt following the liberation of Coventry, with an expanded program that included a technician track, launched in cooperation with Coventry Metal Works because of the company's need for trained, experienced workers. As of 3079 it was common to find senior classmen interning at either the main Coventry Metal Works plant or the Refit Facility at Trumbley Station for periods of a month at a time as a part of the final stages of their education.[2]

Military Deployment

2764

2786

2821

  • Fourth Royal Guards[67]

3025

3038

3050

3059

3061

3061

3067

3079

- At this point in time the Third operating at 50% of full strength, with 100% of their equipment featuring upgraded technology.

3085

3145

Geography

Coventry has four major continents named Auckland, Dunnigan, Sydnallia and Veracruz.[2]

Planetary Locations

  • Castle Arianrod: Birth place of Harrison Bradford.[78]
  • Coeville: site of a notable battle between the Thirty-first Battalion of the Coventry Militia and the Seventh Falcon Regulars during the Jade Falcon Incursion.[79]
  • Cross-Divide Mountains: a mountain chain near Port St. William riddled with cave complexes and mine workings large enough for BattleMechs to negotiate.[48]
  • Fort Lawrence: the location of the Coventry Military Academy on Dunnigan.[2]
  • Lietnerton: a city on Coventry.[49]
  • McKenzy Molecular Smelter: industrial site located roughly one hundred kilometers north of Fort Lawrence.[48]
  • New Toronto: metropolis located near New Cambridge University of Wessex.[80]
  • Nuevo Giza: the location on Sydnallia of the main planetary militia base.[2]
  • Port St. William: the planetary capital city, located on Veracruz. Also the location of the main Coventry Metal Works facility.[2]
  • Trumbley Station: the location of the Coventry Metal Works Refit Facility on Veracruz.[2]
  • Whitting: town on Veracruz; site of several battles during the Jade Falcon Incursion.[58]

Industrial Centers

Image gallery

Notes

The electronic version of Handbook: House Steiner gives the recharge time of ships in the Coventry system as 210 hours.[1] This differs from the recharge time given in other publications for class F4V stars and from the entry on Coventry in Objectives: Lyran Alliance, which instead state a recharge time of 175 hours.[2] The time quoted in Objectives: Lyran Alliance has been used in this article.

Nearby Systems

Systems within 60 light-years (distance in light years)
Closest systems first:
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig 16.6 Tsinan 20.8 Caledea 26.1 Prydain 28.4
Krievci 33.0 Guatavita 33.1 Pobeda 34.6 Saravan 38.8
New Capetown 39.9 Conley's Patch 40.7 Biuque 42.1 Goetville 42.8
Vorzel 47.1 Upano 48.1 Richvale 49.4 Gulf Breeze 49.8
Tapihue 50.0 Wrociaw 50.5 Jatznik 53.4 Loxley 54.5
Bayis II 54.9 Ellengurg 55.1 Windsor 57.1 Incukalns 57.4
Storfors 58.1

References

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  2. 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 Objectives: Lyran Alliance, p. 16-17, "Coventry"
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  9. 9.0 9.1 House Kurita (The Draconis Combine), p. 35, "Battles in the Age of War"
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  35. Map of the Inner Sphere 3130
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  55. The Battle of Coventry, p. 11, "Foiled by Fate"
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  68. House Steiner (The Lyran Commonwealth), p. 119, "Unit Deployment Table"
  69. NAIS The Fourth Succession War Military Atlas Volume 1, p.45, "Operation GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG"
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Bibliography