Editing Nathan Isaacson

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = 
| name                = Nathan Isaacson
| birthdate           = 14 June [[2526]]
| died                =  19 October [[2631]]
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Terran Hegemony]]
| profession          = [[General]]
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            =
}}

'''Nathan Isaacson''' was a [[General]] in the newly formed [[Star League Defense Force]] and overall commander of [[Operation MAILED FIST]] - the [[Reunification War]] campaign against the [[Rim Worlds Republic]].<ref name=HRW-47>''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 47 "Personalities - Star League - Nathan Isaacson"</ref>

==History==
===Early Life to Service with Hegemony Armed Forces===
Born on [[New Earth]] to a humble farm machinery salesman, Nathan Isaacson's early prospects did not seem bright, as a young boy inclined neither to academic or sporting pursuits. Falling in with the wrong crowd, Isaacson was seemingly destined for a life of petty crime until he was caught in [[2542]], the arresting officer giving the sixteen-year a choice of either prison or enlistment in the [[Hegemony Armed Forces]]. Choosing the later, to his own surprise Isaacson prospered under the training and strict discipline of military life, proving to be a highly adept marksman and tactician, as well a shrewd judge of character and a natural leader.<ref name=HRW-47/>

By [[2547]] Nathan Isaacson had risen to the rank of [[Sargent]] when his gallantry and leadership during a border crisis secured him a commission and command of his own [[company]], his easy rapport and effective leadership earning the respect and loyalty of his troops. By [[2560]] Isaacson had reached the rank of [[Colonel]], a decade later joining the general staff of the HAF immediately prior to the founding of the [[Star League]].<ref name=HRW-47/>

===Reunification War - Operation MAILED FIST===
Rather than among the first batch of officers selected to head up combat commands in the newly formed Star League Defense Forces, Nathan Isaacson was instead assigned as head of a training [[division]], charged with the integration and training of the disparate forces gifted to the SLDF by its [[Member States]]. It was the skill shown by Isaacson in this role that prompted [[Commanding General of the Star League Defense Force|Commanding General]] [[Carlos Dangmar Lee]] to promote Isaacson to command of the provisional [[XIII Corps (Star League)|XIII Corps]] and charged him with assembling troops for Task Force MAILED FIST. At the time Commanding General Lee's intention for Isaacson was purely preparation work ahead of possibly assigning command of the Operation MAILED FIST to [[Lyran Commonwealth]] [[Archon]] [[Viola Steiner-Dinesen]], but the determination and drive Isaacson showed in building a viable multinational force prompted Lee to promote him to full General and command of the Rim Worlds campaign.<ref name=HRW-47/>

As firsthand reports of the extent of the destabilized situation within the Rim Worlds Republic reached Isaacson at the MAILED FIST command post on [[New Caledonia]], he would urgently requested reinforcements as he recognized the existing Task Force was not of sufficient size or scope to deal with the threat, Commanding General Lee transferring the bloodied [[IV Corps (Star League)|IV]] and [[VI Corps (Star League)|VI Corps]] from the Taurian front to his command. Isaacson's initial plan, dubbed Case Apollo, was focused on capturing a string of worlds leading from the Lyran border to Apollo before pacifying the rest of the Republic, expected to take a total of five years, two to reach and liberate Apollo, and three for the rest of the Republic.<ref name=HRW-132>''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 132, "False Starts (2579-81)"</ref>

From May 2581 Task Force MAILED FIST struck out from [[Trell I]] and New Caledonia against [[Persistence]], [[Treeline]], [[Star's End]] and [[Black Earth]]. As the [[Star League Defense Force Intelligence Command]] had expected, [[Rim Worlds Army]] forces along the Lyran border retaliated against the invasion with easily repulsed strikes against the Lyran worlds of [[Main Street]], [[Canal]], [[Buena]] in October and December of the same year, but an additional deep raid by the [[4th Amaris Fusiliers|Fourth Amaris Fusiliers]] against the assumed to be safe [[Alarion]] inflicted significant damage to the world as well as Isaacson's plans and timetable for Operation MAILED FIST. Citing this deep strike as evidence the RWA were much stronger than Star League intelligence claimed, Archon Viola insisted the entire operational plan be reviewed, calling on the SLDF to broaden its approach to defeat RWA forces across the entire Republic first rather than a surgical strike against Apollo.<ref name=HRW-132/><ref name=HRW-133>''Historical: Reunification War'', pp. 133-136, "Island Hopping (2582 - November 2590)"</ref>

Refusing to stretch his far too small force to cover such a large area, General Isaacson declined her suggestions, until the Archon threatened to redeploy both the Lyran troops assigned to the task force and the financial and logistical support the Commonwealth had promised to MAILED FIST to strengthen the [[Lyran Commonwealth Armed Forces]] units along the border. Given little choice to avoid the cancellation of the entire offensive, an angry Isaacson only agreed under strenuous protest to Commanding General Lee, correctly stating that the operation would now likely take a dozen years and need another corps of troops thanks to "that woman's" demands. Incensed at the need to mediate between and assuage the egos of the Archon and the equally prima donna commander of the [[2nd Marik Auxiliary Corps]] [[Duke]] [[Narinder Selaj]], the low-born Isaacson's inability to discipline his high-born commanders would be a constant distraction from the prosecution of MAILED FIST.<ref name=HRW-47/><ref name=HRW-132/><ref name=HRW-133/><ref name=HRW-138>''Historical: Reunification War'', pp. 138-139, "The Games of Mice (2591-2592)"</ref>

The retooled MAILED FIST was more measured than the initial version, focused on reducing RWA troop concentrations and safeguarding the Lyran Commonwealth, with each of the Republic's three provinces receiving equal attention, Isaacson commanding the SLDF VI Corps in taking the [[Apollo Province]] while Steiner-Dinesen led efforts to suppress the [[Finmark Province]] and Duke Selaj [[Timbuktu Province]]. The need to relocate forces to their new respective areas of operation delayed the SLDF troops, particularly as Steiner-Dinesen and Selaj argued with Isaacson over the disposition of supplies and transports. Isaacson led Battle Group Apollo against rebel and loyalty Republic forces alike in Apollo Province, with all the units of MAILED FIST encountering stiff resistance. The arrival of the [[Draconis Combine Mustered Soldiery]] corps to bolster MAILED FIST would only worsen the situation, though highly skilled the harshness and brutality of their tactics on [[Nightwish]] resulted in the remaining Republican forces intensifying their opposition to the SLDF invaders. Desertions rose markedly after 2585, most so among the Lyran troops only a few jumps from home. In one of the few times Isaacson and the Steiner-Dinesen were in agreement, both stepped up SLDF-IC and [[LIC]] inspections of civilian shipping and sentencing any deserters to hard labor in the task force's logistical camps.<ref name=HRW-133/>

As Task Force MAILED FIST advanced through the Republic, while Isaacson's forces encountered fewer RWA line units his troops often found themselves facing violent resistance from civilian populations with endless guerilla and irregular force attacks, fighting the SLDF were ill prepared to face. The brutality of the DCMS contingent was the only successful counter, with other SLDF units slowly adopting similar tactics in response to civilian-perpetrated atrocities. Following the fighting on [[Newtown Square]], which saw the RWA [[WarShip]] fleet slaughtered nineteen undefended SLDF troop transports with all hands, numerous elements of the SLDF pushed General Isaacson to try the commanding RWA [[Admiral]] [[Hakim Wbika]] for war crimes, but he did not heed such calls, recognizing that such thinking could just as likely open up the SLDF and [[Draconis Combine]] units under his command to similar charges for their own equally brutal actions against the people of the Republic.<ref name=HRW-133/>

Any headway Isaacson and MAILED FIST were making in the Republic was soon ended due to events back in the [[Inner Sphere]]. With the operation taking far longer than originally planned, elements in the Lyran Commonwealth [[Estates General]] opposed to Star League secretly kidnapped [[Archon-Designate]] [[Kevin Steiner-Dinesen]] and cited the lack of direction from the Archon or Archon-Designate to try and expand their powers. When in [[2591]] word reached Archon Viola during the invasion of [[Barcelona]] of her son's kidnapping seemingly at the hands of Duke of Skye and the Duke of Tamar — Aldo Lestrade and Simon Kelswa respectively — she snapped and personally attacked the [[Twenty-fifth Skye Rangers]] and [[Tamar Tigers]] troops. The resulting [[Day of Rage]] would cost Isaacson the gutted Twenty-fifth Skye Rangers and Tamar Tigers who declared they could no longer fight for the Archon and were granted permission to withdraw from MAILED FIST. Filled with remorse for her actions, especially after the LIC and HCID provided her evidence of the real parties behind the kidnapping was Estates General Speaker [[Henry Gram]], Viola requested a leave of absence from the operation to return to [[Tharkad]] to deal with the crisis at home. Though Isaacson granted Viola's request as their frosty relationship finally began to thaw, as such travel was not relating to SLDF business he denied her use of SLDF courier [[JumpShips]]. Already reeling from the loss of Lyran elements, the Draconis Auxiliary Corps were also withdrawn in [[2592]] by the District Warlords of the [[Draconis Combine]] in response the debauched and incoherent rule of [[Coordinator]] [[Leonard Kurita]] following the death of the pro–Star League [[Hehiro Kurita (26th c.)|Hehiro Kurita]].<ref name=HRW-138/>

Ultimately due to the political games of the Commonwealth and Combine, Isaacson had to deal with the removal of six BattleMech regiments, more than twenty percent of MAILED FIST's operational strength, yet again a significant delay for the SLDF's efforts and ensuring it would take until mid-[[2595]] to pacify the bulk of the Rim Worlds Republic, neutralize the majority of the Rim Worlds Army and secure the approach routes to Apollo. It would be [[2596]] before units from Task Force MAILED FIST actually began landing on Apollo, nearly a decade longer than initially believed. Isaacson planned the operation to secure Apollo; taking command of the naval elements of the operation, while operational command of the ground operation was passed to the returned Archon Steiner-Dinesen, who led the landings and the assault on Terra Prime, whilst Duke Narinder Selaj was made (under protest) her second in command and given responsibility for the military strike to secure the island estates within which Gregory Amaris had sheltered for the better part of twenty years.<ref name=HRW-139>''Historical: Reunification War'', p. 139, "Bitter Harvests (2591-2596)"</ref>

While Selaj easily achieved his task, discovering Gregory Amaris to be unpleasant and ungrateful for his rescue, due to monsoon season weather the Archon's force made only slow progress in assaulting the combined forces of the [[Seventh Amaris Legionnaires]] and [[Eighth Amaris Dragoons]], bolstered by well-prepared defenses. The Archon ultimately opted for a highly risky plan to use herself as bait to lure the RWA troops from their positions into a trap. The Seventh Legionnaires and Eighth Fusiliers responded as hoped, moving out to attack the Archon's forces, but a communications glitch meant that the other units didn't receive the signal to spring into action. By the time other SLDF troops eventually arrived the [[Fourth Royal Guards]] had been mauled and the Archon had suffered mortal injuries and was swiftly repatriated to [[Tharkad]], where she died on the 28th of April.<ref name=HRW-139/>

General Isaacson wasn't entirely surprised to learn of the Archon's injuries; he perceived the Archon's behavior since the Day of Rage on Barcelona to have been reckless to the point of nihilism, and her actions had given him cause for concern. With the Archon Steiner-Dinesen no longer able to command the ground forces, Isaacson took direct command of the ground forces for the remainder of the operation. Ignoring the newly freed Gregory Amaris' demand to "bomb the rebels into atoms", Isaacson conducted a more cautious campaign, intended to reduce the loss of life on both parts as much as possible. Isaacson's strategy was proven effective, and the siege of Terra Prime finally ended on the 3rd of September 2596 when the RPG surrendered, ending the civil war.<ref name=HRW-139/>

===Later Life and Legacy===
Though ultimately successful, the bloody cost of Operation MAILED FIST left its mark on Nathan Isaacson, retiring in [[2607]] and spending much of the rest of his life in seclusion. Though rarely speaking of his experienced during the war, his diaries detailing his life during and after MAILED FIRST were published posthumously in [[2635]], becoming compulsory reading as part of the SLDF's Officer Training Program until the [[Amaris Coup]] and the destruction of the Star League.<ref name=HRW-47/>

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Historical: Reunification War]]''

[[Category: Terran Hegemony Characters|Isaacson, Nathan]]