Faction roleplaying thread
QuoteFrom: saKhan Bryn Cooper
To: Khan (CDS, CHH, CIH, CJF, CSC, CSA, CSR, CW)
Subject: Naval Rebuild
Greetings and Salutations,
Sudeten has taken from us, and then taken some more. The Terran Fleet will return and return soon. Other ships have been sighted headed to the Pentagon Worlds and the Kerensky Cluster itself. When the fighting ended on sudeten, several Clans had need for facilities to rebuild with and select clans were chosen to hold these facilities in trust so that rebuilding would go faster.
Now, we need a status report of the Clan Fleet. We can not make plans without knowing the situation. Please report back to me aboard the CSRS Snow Raven with the status of your repairs and where you recieved this assistance. There is no time for delay.
Senior Star Admiral
saKhan Bryn Cooper
Clan Snow Raven
<<Somewhere on a Spirit Cat controlled world in the Inner Sphere>>
Darkness
Why is it always dark?
Nova Captain Josh Winters looked up into the sky.
It was cold... extremely cold.
Still he was standing there, clothed only by his pride and the paint he applied onto his body in preparation for this ceremonial night.
He had been living without food for the last twenty days, still he did not feel hungry.
Looking around, he saw the members of his nova assembling around the huge bonfire that he had gathered.
They all looked the same... men, women, elementals, mechwarriors, pilots, trueborns, freeborns.
All of them naked, painted in green, red and blue.
One unit, one mind, one pack...
Walking towards the bonfire he noticed the sound of drums and flutes in the distance. He stopped, looking around and noticed the other bonfires. Almost forgotten by him, he was reminded that they were not alone.
Novae from different Clusters and Galaxies had assembled on this plane to conduct what was called 'The rebirth of souls'.
A tradition seldomly conducted within the clan.
Every warrior was invited to this ritual but it usually was a whole unit either deciding to follow the call or declining it.
Twenty bonfires were forming a circle on a large plain of grassland far enough distanced from each other to not interfere but still connected.
There was one group however that had stirred up several discussions among the warriors organizing the ritual. A discussion that had to be finally settled by a trial.
The one group on the left of his bonfire... the one with the drums and flutes were absorbed Jaguars. All of them. From the lowest elemental warrior up to their commander, a Star Colonel.
They had claimed their right to participate in the ritual and were even willing to defend their claim against others who tried to refuse it.
Josh smiled. He liked to have them there. He regarded it as a sign of strength and unity. Something that the Spirit Cats really needed!
Someone called out for him and got him out of his thoughts.
It was time! Taking up a torch he counted down, took a deep breath and lit the bonfire right in the moment that the others were lit as well!
It had started...
From high orbit Loremaster Nathan Leroux watched the bonfires light up and smiled.
A new future for the clan was about to be born down there and he was looking forward to get to know what kind of future it might be...
Niangol
Khan Philippe Drummond stopped and looked up towards the helicopter that was aproaching.
He was angry. It was not every day that he went skiing and he did not want to be interrupted.
In his eyes the only acceptable message was something like "Kerensky and McEvedy had a child and there are still grand grand grand grand children alife..."
Still he waited until the helicopter had landed and a single warrior had aproached him through the deep snow.
He did not move any inch towards him and watched the mans struggle with growing amusement.
"What is it... warrior?"
"Khan. I am sorry to trouble you with theese news but we just recieved message that the loremaster is attending a 'Rebirth of souls' ritual at (censored)."
"You are kidding me, quineg?"
"Neg my Khan."
He was thinking for a second
Something is happening here... and noone informed me.
I need to head back to the command center. Take me with you...
He was standing on a cliff
Clothed in... ancient clothes
Not recognizing what he was wearing he still felt the chill wind, smelt the salt in the air and the wet grass.
Looking out onto the water he noticed the black shadow at the horizon... a horizon that was quickly closing in.
Like an absolutely natural emotion he reached for the... for the Horn??? on his belt, took it off and took a deep breath...
In the village the warrior looked up when they heard the sound of the horn, jumping to their feet
Quickly they assembled in groups of five or then.
Some of them were huge, armored with chainmail and round shields, others muscular men and women, armed with daggers and spears while the third group, consisting of the smallest men and women controlled their bows.
Josh Winters ran down the hill yelling: "Bring me my broadsword, bring me my daggerstar as a talisman!"
Turning to his army he spoke with strong and powerfull voice:
"We will all need clear understanding! We will stand against a foe of old on his black saild ships... Be like hard rocks, be my brethren, stand all around me! Put your backs in the northwind, fight for the motherland!"
The men yelled with him as he rose his sword and pointed towards the sea
"I see us victorious today." pointing back to the other side "I see a new dawn at the horizon"
Together they marched forward, welcoming the faceless evil that brought darkness with it
Shoulder to shoulder they were standing facing demons, visions of old, fears of the future and last but not least their destruction..."
With a FOR THE CLAN they charged forward, right into the nightmare.
Steel on steel they fought viciously and Josh saw men falling all around him, some of them vanishing in the dark while others struggled back to their feet.
Fighting with the power, determination and will of a clansmen has always made them invincible, enduring the hardest pain, deepest depression and strongest blows but this was too much...
While they were fought like demons themself they were still falling in number and strength while the enemy army seemed to grow during the fight
Dodging a spear he looked around and commanded five of his best to his side they were forming the rock that was holding back the sea of darkness and while they knew they would cumble and fall they were grim and had the determination of a condemmed but proud man in their eyes.
Suddenly some grey mist was forming out of nothing and while they feared another enemy trick something suddenly drew the attention off the five men.
It was a huge beast striking out of the mist.
Claws, a fur and a metal-toothed face were doing a bloody harvest among their enemies
"It is A spirit cat..." Josh let his battered shield fall to the ground
"No... it is a Smoke Jaguar... look at the smoke around it! You can barely see it moving" the woman next to him mentioned
Suddenly, out of nothing a sting came out of the smoke, pinning a huge monster for a second onto a tree and suddenly got pulled back into the mist again.
The monster was dripping of green poison right at the position where the sting hat hit it and was suddenly starting to tremble and then fall over... dead.
Looking around they saw that the darkness was retreating and behind them a new day was dawning
"What is it?"
They walked towards the smoke, eager to get a clearer vision
The beast turned around and growled before them and suddenly they saw it
The body of a nova cat... the head of a jaguar and the tail... no - the sting of a scorpion embedded in smoke
"This is a Chimera..." Josh was the first to think this thought and suddenly it became dark...
[High orbit, bureau of the Loremaster]
"A what?"
"A chimera Loremaster"
"Nova Captain Winters..." he took a deep breath "This is ridiciolous.."
"Is it, quineg?" he rose and towered in front of the Loremaster "We had over two hundret warriors down there. Every single one... be it elemental or pilot, trueborn or freeborn, former jaguar or homworld brewed and old warrior that was in the clans when we were still the NovaCat clan saw the same vision."
"Then you all will have to forget this vi..."
he was unable to end the sentence when suddenly the massive right arm of Josh Winters reached forward and grabbed his throat.
Loremaster Nathan Leroux was filled with panic. He knew that he was about to die and that there was nothing he could do against the young, massive elemental.
Looking into the eyes of the younger man he was surprised. He suspected anger, rage, a cold emotion but what he saw were the warm eyes of someone who knew that it was necessary and that his own life ended with him the minuted he drew his last breath.
Suddenly he felt honored, honored that this young man with a great future was willing to sacrifice it in order to silence him, honored that his death would maybe lead the clan to new glory.
He ended all struggle and thought of his life. Suddenly he had to smile...
Josh Winters was puzzled. He had not had this planned... still it had happened. And instead of delivering him a fight to the end the Loremaster had looked at him and suddenly had smiled and closed his eyes. Then he died.
He activated his comms, contacted the bridge and calmly spoke.
"Star Admiral. Please send a watch team to the Loremasters room. The Loremaster is dead, killed by me for his sins."
on the other side a surprised female voice only said "Aaaaaaaaaah..." when he closed the channel.
He sat down... thought for a second and reactivated his comm again
"StarCaptain Andrea Rakhmatulina? I am probably not going to survive that day. You will have to carry on the message of our Visionquest."
"What happened Nova Captain?"
"I killed the Loremaster"
"WHAT?"
Niangol was one of the first Worlds that were reached by the HPG broadcast
Khan Philippe Drummond was standing in his command center and his rage was obvious.
With a pale face he looked at the tech.
"Repeat this tech! Since when is this on air?"
"The initial HPG message has been sent one hour ago. By now the message has reached êvery Spirit Cat world and Unit in the Inner Sphere, has passed Transfer Station P3 and is due to reach New Hope station within the next five minutes"
"Play it again."
"But Khan..."
"AGAIN TECH OR YOUR LIFE ENDS NOW!!"
The tech swallowed and looked dwon onto the fast growing dark spot at his trousers
"Aff Khan... here... it is..."
The message showed a young elemental standing next to a female elemental who was obvously a former Jaguar.
Behind them fires were burning down. Obviously they had been bonfires... massive ones
"Clan Spirit Cat... listen up! Today we did commit a 'rebirth of souls' ritual under surveillance of the later Loremaster Nathan Leroux.
What we saw was the vision of a new totem saving us all. It was a beast of unseen atributes... We were saved by a beast with the body of a SpiritCat, the Head of a Jaguar and the Tail of a Scorpion. We were saved by a Chimera!
We all know that our brethren in the Scorpion clan are troubled by the ridiciolous decisions made by their leadership and their scientist caste.
Today we lay a vision quest upon all of you. Tomorrow we shall relieve them from their peril. Tomorrow we shall strive to unite the Cats..." he looked towards the woman next to him "and the scorpion."
he smiled
"Do not misunderstand me... not me and Andrea Rakhmatulina saw this vision... it was shared by exactly two hundret thrityseven warriors of all gene-lines, skills and origin."
he made a pause for the effect
Suddenly she spoke on
"This is our hour! This is our destiny. Assemble around Vivendi Keshik and we will lead OUR clan to greater glory!"
With this the message ended and froze
"Khan? There is some kind of coded message attached. We can not acess it... yet"
"Decrypt it... stravag techs... what do I have you for?" he took a deep breath
Too bad the SaKhan is out of contact... well good for our plans... what shall I do now?
"How high are the chances that other Clans intercept and decode the message?"
"Little to none I would say Khan. It is embedded into the weekly Message report that we send to and from all garrisons and it is highly encrypted with one of our most secure codes. At least they" he pointed at the hologram "were careful enough to hide their ideas from the other clans..."
Homeworlds
New-Hope Station
When the message arrived some turmoil was stirred among warriors and scientists.
First the unexpected message of the death of the Loremaster, then the content of the message and finally the attached encrypted part.
While techs and scientists were still working on an decryption algorithm, a copy got transfered to an offline datapad, a tiny program opened and the file reassembled by that program.
The process lasted for roughly ten seconds and when the message got displayed a devlish grin was mirrored on the datapad.
Quickly messages were sent to various units in the homeworlds. Something would happen soon....
"Where are all the Direwolves gone to?"
MasterTech Hansons head was purple - red
"Galaxy Commander Maximimilian took them with him"
"He did WHAT? Do you want to tell me that he took a binary of Direwolves, Direwolves that were assigned for Xi Galaxy and just flew off with them?"
"Aff, MAsterTech."
"Where to?"
"Can't tell"
A loud >klatsch< was heard when the elder tech slaped the younger one
"First: Watch your tongue, SURAT... second: Get me an answer to that question. Ask... ask someone!"
"That will be difficult MasterTech... The Galaxy commander went off without any further communication and did not take any techs with him!"
"Kerensky... What are they up to?"
"I do not know. Let's... let us hope that they will return soon."
"Ya... nor not at all...."
Somewhere Near Spirit Cat Space
"How many did follow the call?"
"We were able to muster roughly a galaxy."
"That is... I do not know."
"Neither do I. We could very well be running into our death, quiaff?"
"Aff. I very well suspect them to do what they did to the BloodSpirits."
The woman noded
"Well... then want to have sex?"
"Actually..." he looked down onto the smaller woman and mustered all the visible tatoos covering her body. Mustering the long pink-colored hair that was slowly floating in close-to-zero gravity he supressed a dirty smile, breathed and spoke with the upmost disinterest possible: "Aff. Why not..."
Marching towards their dropship the Aide of the SaKhan looked towards him
"Is he going to uphold the treaty, quineg?"
"Aff, I think so. If not, we will be upon him like a raging beast.
And he knows that there is no chance his army and navy could ever stand ours."
SaKhan West smiled.
The vision was comming true and everything was falling in place...
When the Overlord C lift off a last message got transmitted ahead towards the Jumpship and relayed to the clan forces in the Inner Sphere
"Execute operation Winterkrieg."
Lootera Airspace
Lootera, Jaguar Prime
Huntress, Kerensky Cluster
Nothing could have looked more out of place than the blood-red VTOL, bearing the coloring and insignia of Clan Blood Spirit, as it soared into the airspace of the former capital city of Clan Smoke Jaguar. The pilots and crew of the craft were more than a little disquieted by their journey into Adder-controlled territory, but this did not detract from the execution of their duties.
Entering the cockpit, Scorpion MechWarrior and Seeker Pavel Kirov gazed upon the rapidly-growing city of Lootera in the viewport. The city had once been study of contrasts: drab, featureless buildings standing at the feet of monolithic memorials to Jaguar heroes and that fallen Clan's warrior tradition until the Inner Sphere had destroyed those memorials in their destruction of Clan Smoke Jaguar. Towering above them all was the Jaguars' Gene Center, a pyramidal structure that housed an eternal laser that had once burned skyward in tribute to fallen Jaguar warriors, but had now gone dark. The Field of Heroes stretched before the Gene Center, though the stone-carved BattleMechs also lay in ruins. In the distance loomed Mount Szabo, where a leaping smoke jaguar had been carved into the face of the mountain in a monumental display of hubris until it, as well, had been removed.
At all of these sites, Pavel could only smile.
Coming up to his side was a most interesting companion: one of the ranking Paladins of the Knights Sanguine, and the man chosen by Sentinel Boques when the Knights had determined to send an expedition to meet with the Spirit Cats on Huntress. He nodded to Pavel once, and then placed a hand on the pilot's shoulder to signal the transmission.
A coded transmission was beam-cast towards Lootera, but it was one not intended for the Star Adders but to Clan Spirit Cat, which had fought a Trial of Usage for the right to use Lootera as their base of operations on Huntress to conduct their business with Clan Blood Spirit.
"This is Kite-512 to the ranking Spirit Cat commander, bearing Seeker Pavel Kirov and Paladin Javier Carmichael, requesting permission to land and meet with your delegation."
"You are more then welcome Clan Blood Spirit representatives. The Loremaster is more than interested in your offerings."
With theese words the massive Outpost dropship launched two points of ASF as well as a star of helicopters that were heading out to escort the Blood Spirit VOTL
Lootera SpacePort
Lootera, Jaguar Prime
Huntress, Kerensky Cluster
Disembarking from the Blood Spirit DropShip came a quartet of individuals that could not have looked more out of place.
First came Paladin Javier Carmichael, clad in his more ornate version of the Knights Sanguine uniform, his clear blue eyes surveying the tarmac and his chestnut ponytail trailing behind him like a streamer. Next to him, clad in the carapace-like body armor and dark clothing of a Goliath Scorpion MechWarrior was Seeker Pavel Kirov, his own dark eyes giving away nothing.
Flanking the pair were identically-clad Elementals, encased in menacing Vampire battlearmor and standing protectively as their helmeted eyes scanned the area for threats. The massive support pulse lasers on their shoulders swept their muzzles around as their bearers drank in every detail, ready to lay down a withering barrage of fire to protect their charges.
Patiently the pair waited for the Spirit Cats, who were undoubtedly sending someone to meet with them on this most unusual of days.
,,Messages to the Clan?"
The SaKhan of the Cats looked over to the hologram of his senior Khan.
"Aff. I think it is important to inform every warrior of our targets. I will record a message and send it to every single Clan Spirit Cat member.
We are once again at the point of a great change for all of us.
This will be a great moment and we have to thank you and the kindness of our new allies."
"Very well. I will be out of comms reach while my part of the fleet is jumping through deepspace. The next relais station will be in range in two months. This will be the last time we talk before the attacks begin. Do you have any further orders?"
"Neg SaKhan. I trust in your skills, and those of your warriors. Just lead by example, not by except."
"I will my Khan." With a slight bow the transmission faded and he left the holotank of his command vessel.
Looking around he felt a sudden chill. This warship was new to him, as well to his clan; still, he would enjoy the trip on it.
Not many of those massive beasts were cruising the ever-darkened vastness of space and the Spirit Cats were proud to own one of them...
"Star Admiral? We are clear to make the jumps. The fleet is all yours for the next months."
Receiving a nod from the small woman he smiled upon the enormous difference between them.
He a Homeworlds bred elemental trueborn and she an InnerSphere born freeborn who, with magnificent skill had ascended to command of the heaviest warship the Spirit Cats possessed
"Ayeaff SaKhan. We will deliver you and your boys safely."
Turning around she barked
"'LL stations! Action stations! Tis is our first jump 'nto possibli 'ostile territory. I wan' tis ship shinin' when we 'rrive!"
He shuddered about the horrible pronounciation but had to grin when she turned around and gave him a 'thumbs up', smiling.
"You may return to your quarters, SaKhan. We will leave once the last jumpship has reported ready-status. I would be delighted if you would visit me for dinner today in my personal quarters."
"I will attend this invitation, Star Admiral."
"Very well..." she turned around again
"Hey! Joe! Gimme da staus of da shaß jumpa finally. We wana jump!"
Shaking his head the SaKhan left the Bridge.
Lootera SpacePort
Lootera, Jaguar Prime
Huntress, Kerensky Cluster
After waiting longer than they had a right to, the Spirit delegates and their Elemental bodyguards once again boarded their VTOL, and departed the Spirit Cat-controlled Lootera to return to their own enclave on Huntress.
OOC: could the 2 above posts be deleted?
IC:
Location Classified
April 3070
"Ah, Selina. It is a pleasure to see you. I hope you kept your skills?"
"My Khan, I am honored to finally meet you. Of course I have tried hard to maintain my skill and that of my Warriors, but it is not that easy. Are there any news from the Homeworlds?"
Andrea West shook her head. "Not much. Certainly nothing that points towards a major move. I hope it stays this way. Other than the Blood Spirits and Ice Hellions, there were not much dealings as well. The deal with the Vipers is complete. My hope is that Zeta and Overlord can make good use of the diverse designs we gained. Or not. Perhaps they must follow us?"
Selina Fokker, saKhan of the Spirit Cats, nodded thoughtfully. "We will see in some weeks, quiaff. But I would argue that there can be no other outcome than victory. Sledgehammer will be a success. The state of our Watch however, is still worrysome and I have to support the Loremaster Morris' sentiment to put much more resources into that, especially if we are to keep what we gain."
She gazed at her Khan, wondering if she did not already had ordered such.
"I agree. However, we also have few personnel that can be trusted with this task, add to it that most Warriors view it as disgraceful. There is at least now increased resources for this and if all goes well, it will double or triple over the next months. If we stumble over too much enemies however, then we have much greater problems anyway."
Selina bowed to her Khan's wisdom. "You might be hungry, shall we go to the mess? The Warriors here would certainly be delighted to see both their Khans at once.", she offered. It was around noon and usually time to eat and indeed, both Khans together was a rare opportunity. It might raise morale and spirit of the Clansmen, not only the Warriors.
"Agreed, perhaps there would be even real food to be eaten, or at least Inner Sphere rations?" Andrea grinned. It was a fact that the Clan rations were horrible, anyone with the ability to taste something else knew that. "And make sure, a VidCam will be there, the others shall get pictures of us. Mute, only when I say otherwise. Our time is still precious."
They moved on to the mess. Both were attractive women, Warriors, although Andrea was a MechWarrior and Selina a Fighter Pilot, the size difference was not that huge, as Andrea was not excessively long, while Selina was not the shortest of Pilots either.
Their time in the Inner Sphere also had given them time to learn more about manipulating others, be it via strong powerplay or the more seductive way, which helped with the non-Warrior Castes, who were still bound to families and less free than the Warriors.
To keep the families intact was a major part of the Khan's policies, the many moves the Clan had endured depended on the Castes and their welfare. Dividing family units were fostering discontent, so only volunteers could be moved with ease. It was part of living years within the Terran Hegemony, that so harshly betrayed them. It was also the reason why the Visioneer Movement had basically been brought to impotence. Only few visioneers remained and mostly outside of the Clan, an example being the one Warrior that went to the Blood Spirits. The visions had cost the Clan not only their standing in the Grand Council, but made them traitors once. It also cost them a saKhan and his Keshik against the Scorpion scum. They would be dealt with when they had built up sufficient power.
When the two women arrived, the lower Caste cook hurried to get them a proper meal, a Vidcam recorded them, floating around so that all could enjoy the view, while the attending Warriors were visibly pleased to have their Khans around. Of course, they could not prove their worth as Warriors immediately, but when talking about their deeds, they made sure to speak up a little bit, so that the Khans might hear. Only few Warriors dared to sit with them, however, mostly of high rank and the Khans exchanged some words.
Both seemed well informed about the codices of their interlocutors and if one was not firm in the grip, the other would step in. If there was praise to give, it was given, the cook for example did a great work, but if there were reproach or even harsher criticism to give, it was given. The Khan decided which was to be recorded for all, and not every high-ranker went away with a chin up.
Several waves of people ate with the Khans, whose desks were empty from food soon enough, replaced with sheets and Compblocks.
The session lasted long and the next days and weeks would see repeated instances of this.
30 June 3070
*static*
"My Khan, Andrea, this is Selina. I have found the last unit and we are obliterating them." *cluster bombs in the radio* "Direct hit, mop them up! .. We got them. The lower castes here do not seem to make much trouble out here. I see you soon. SaKhan out."
Andrea West listened and was content. As content as one could be after what had happened here. They had lost the "Blade". The "Principle" was seemingly salvageable. At least. Those Niopsians had a bizarre society. Even now the people were streaming in to offer their services. But that was only after several riots killed the higher ups when the ground forces were destroyed.
The next phase of her plan, however, was already set in motion. Most troops would not stay here, infact, they would go after even worthier and more rewarding opposition.. not that it would go easier, though. It might get more brutal, after all those were upstart ex-Pirates as their neighbours, the Canopians had already seen. It would be done, however.
"Star Admiral, Ground sent us data. It is about "belters"."
The Admiral looked up: "Belters? Not unlikely. Do we know their exact whereabouts? If not, start scanning the area and prepare some ships. We need to keep them in check. I assume the Khan already knows about this?" He nodded on the answer.
"Then move some ships and Marines there. Stay alert. Normally, belters are far away from their groundbound Hosts, but Niops might be different. If you make contact, inform me and the Khan, we will know what to tell them."
And thus it was done. The new "Aria" was sent along with two Jumpships and their Dropships to investigate what those belters were up to. If they cooperated, there was no problem. If they had closer ties to Niops then expected, there would be more deaths...
(By Cannonshop.)
Comms Intercepted, NIOPS Belt, 3 AU from NIOPS IV...
"...goldskins are under different management, they've got the lower orbitals and the bottom of the Well pretty much dogged down." Curufin Fingol sat in his prospecting singleship, and listened to the chatter on the common side-bands, but this distracted him from the latest hobby-coding.
"What?" he asked, "Somebody fill me in-I've been J-tracking a lump of Plat."
"You've had your nose into a Plat-Rock? Finagle's lucky balls, man, we're Murphied! The stupid damn flatlanders got involved in a war, now they're occupation territory, and the invaders have the Zenith and Nadir sewed up, with a Neutrino-detector and deep-radar sweeping for any jump sig bigger than an Explorer class-word is out that the damn Goldskins just signed up under their command, too."
"So?" Curufin asked, "Flags change, so what?"
"Difference between a fine for smuggling, and getting airlocked." Melisande "Morgoth" Jinnao was a recent immigrant, "Clanner laws are really, really, really flatlander." she added, "They're big on zero-sum accounting too-no more AnCap free markets, I'm packing to head out before their new garrisons get here."
"How're you doing that with all YOUR shit, given they have the big points covered?" someone else on the band asked.
"Planet Four's coming into phase, there'll be a decent size point forming in a few weeks, should be stable for most of the month-check these numbers." she replied, "better than hanging around waiting for them to put a leash on me."
"You know, you sent that in the clear-they know about it too, now." Curufin commented.
"Who cares? the point's forming in a rockpile, and flatlanders can't Math their way out of a survival sack." she said, "I'm not handing over my property that I worked and sweated and almost died to build, to a bunch of dirt-living socialists with delusions of destiny-it was bad enough in the Lyran Commonwealth, where they at least pretended to believe in property rights and free exchange."
4th January 3070
Office of the Commander
Katyusha City, Strana Mechty
The final Phase of Operation "Ides of March" was now on. All forces were in place as was reported to the Khans. The Tau and Chi Galaxies would be swarming Lothario and Lordinax, supported by Beta Naval Star, while Xi and Theta would go after Leximon. Omicron and 449th and 489th Assault Clusters from Alpha would take on Blantleff. Some Clusters were held in reserve to support either attack.
The Hammerstrike however, would be at Alphard proper. The final Recon and Intel results made a successful invasion plausible.
Nova Star Keshik, Delta, Sigma, Omega, Eta and most of Ice Claw Galaxy supported by Alpha, Delta and five Clusters of the Aerospace Enigma Galaxy would overwhelm the defenders, making this attack the defining moment of the whole Operation. Of course, the Khans were not stupid, would the Caesar or whoever with Command capacity offer reasonable terms of surrender or even integration, they would think about it. The Hegemony's history and style, however, made that rather unlikely. Only when it was decapitated was there hope to go on with an orderly integration. The Cats had a bit of advantage in this as they already had lived in a Inner Sphere society, even the lower Caste members. It would work.
The Aria and Melusine, both ships captured/reclaimed in the already infamous Battle for Niops had been scouting several systems in the meantime, now they were supporting the Operation as well.
Thanks to the strategic mobility by the Cats, the Marians would have no chance, even if they could hold up, or perhaps even throw back one of the invasions. Reinforcements would be swift and decisive, while taking away much of the infrastructure and power of the Enemy. The Khans knew that this was a huge operation, covering nearly as much material and Warriors as 2 or 3 Invading Clans had used in the beginning of Operation Revival. It would make or break their legacies. All hinted to the former.
And it would create a new realm in this sector of space. One which the Terrans and all their bootlickers would have to think twice about attacking.
If all went as planned, the FWL would have to finally show its true colors. If they wanted Illyria, they would have to actively attack and take it. Probably claiming protection against the Cats. This was fine. Anyone could see what was up. But with the Cats covering their backs and not having a WoB outpost threatening their Periphery, they could weather this storm much better than before. Especially with the Clans moving from the Coreward.
Galaxy Commander Maximilian Guerette pettet his Space Cat again as he thought about this. She was pestering him today all the time, perhaps she wanted back into space? But her purring was calming him down as he hoped that the Great Spirit would guide his brethren through this time. The Spirit Cats would survive and thrive. Here or there.