Part Two: The War Against Amaris
2767As soon as it becomes clear that the Hegemony HPGs have lost contact, John orders relief expeditions to contact the garrisons he placed on Ozawa, New Florence and Rio as well as the SLD's 36th and 203rd Mechanized Infantry and 99th BattleMech Divisions, the garrisons nearest the Federated Suns. The ships jump in at non-standard jump points and monitor radio signals before making contact or withdrawing. While the expeditions are successful in securing four shared worlds, Tybalt, New Rhodes, Ronel and Galatia III, as well as the their targets garrisons, attempts to probe further discover powerful RWR warship squadrons in place.
With the worst having happened, John sends orders for the MIIO agents embedded into the AFFS forces in the Hegemony to gather technical information from the SLDF where possible and then sent an urgent message to Kerensky to warn him that Amaris now controlled much of the Hegemony. He also alerts the BSLA administrator for the Federated Suns that the core of the Star League's fiscal system is out of touch and that this may not change soon. In the meantime, on Hanse's recommendation, he offers the support of his government in collecting League revenues and operating League programmes in the Federated Suns.
In February, Stefan Amaris sends messages to all the Star League Council, calling on them to recognise him as Director-General of the Hegemony and Emperor of the Star League. John forwards the message to Kerensky and authorises emergency expenditure on construction of factories in the outer regions of the Federated Suns to built munitions and other consumable supplies for the SLDF. He also brings the AFFS to full war footing
Kerensky addresses his soldiers, advising them of the Coup and that the weight of evidence suggests that the First Lord has been overthrown and probably murdered. He also establishes his clear opposition to Amaris. Hasty negotiations have secured a ceasefire with the Periphery - whose forces are already almost destroyed - and he will be pulling back to bases in the Inner Sphere where the SLDF will regroup. This will also allow time to alter SLDF codes, which must now be considered broken by Amaris.
John (and Hanse) meet Kerensky on New Syrtis, where Amaris direct message to Kerensky arrives. Kerensky is disgusted by the provocation but sees that the other House Lords will not directly support him. He explains his general strategy: to take the Rim Worlds Republic first and only then strike at the Hegemony. John sees the value in denying Amaris access to the resources of the Republic but also hears Hanse's warning about the dangers of letting Amaris entrench.
He recommends instead that Army Group 13 in the Outworlds Alliance sweep through the Combine and Commonwealth, picking up volunteers before striking at the corewards Republic worlds; Army Group 12 in the Magistracy of Canopus sweeps through the Free Worlds League in the same way to hit the rimwards Republic; and Army Group 11 in the Taurian Concordat sweeps through Capellan space to rendevous with the AFFS at their foothold in the Hegemony where they can liberate more worlds and prevent Amaris from sending forces back to the Republic. Then, when the Republic has fallen, Kerensky can use the Armies there to launch a hammer blow at Amaris' rear.
Kerensky was not convinced of the advantages here: he was sure that Amaris was expecting a strike at the Hegemony and would be prepared for it. There were also concerns that the SLDF was not prepared in terms of morale or material for the sort of fighting they could expect in the Hegemony. Ultimately, he decided that the risks were acceptable in exchange for keeping the Federated Suns as an active participant in the war. He was reassured when John made it clear that he understood that the SLDF would not be ready for operations in the Hegemony until late in the year.
As part of the agreements made with Kerensky, the Federated Suns will support the BSLA's operations in financing the SLDF. John is also taking steps to mobilise public support with thousand of volunteers from across the Federated Suns already signed up to fight or at least work for the SLDF. Given his previous experience with the AFFS, Kerensky insists that volunteer regiments be trained and led by cadres taken from some of his shattered divisions (with the balance of those divisions disbanded to replace losses in more intact units). Privately, Kerensky instructs the command staff of Army Group 11 that when they reorganise, they can integrate Capellan volunteer regiments into their Divisions but Suns volunteer regiments should be concentrated into a separate Corps and not assigned any critical missions.
By the end of the year, Army Group 11 is stationed on the seven worlds of the Hegemony still free of Amaris and has consolidated into fifteen Corps, one of them a two infantry division-sized force of volunteers from the Federated Suns. It is agreed with John Davion that the AFFS, in addition to securing the base of operations, will provide a force equivalent to two BattleMech divisions (12 BattleMech regiments, 6 infantry regiments and supporting arms) to bolster the Swordsworn, as the Suns Volunteers have been nicknamed, and an Armoured Division to reinforce 4th Army's LXIX Corps. This brings the Army Group to an effective strength of sixty divisions - a far cry from the 100 divisions that they could have boasted a few years before but still a formidable force.
The plan agreed upon was that Third and Fourth Armies would strike at Towne and Addicks, with a goal of leaping onwards towards the provincial capital of Lockdale. At the same time Sixth and Nineteenth Armies would attack Angol and Achernar before pushing in the general direction of Terra Firma. Seventh Army would be held in reserve. The goal was to keep Amaris guessing and hopefully have him commit his forces outside of the shield of the SDS networks.
2768Landing shortly after the New Year, Sixth Army captured Achernar with very little difficulty as it was only lightly garrisoned and the RWR ships covering it declined to stand and fight against the powerful fleet that had arrived. The SLDF found themselves with a little more difficulty deeming the farming world secure: the local population had been recipients of Amaris' propaganda for a year and as yet his hand had rested relatively lightly upon the farmers.
Nineteenth Army had much more trouble on Angol, not only did the world have substantial Castle Brians, it was defended by a division of Amaris 'Liberation Armies' who did not hesitate to launch nuclear strikes upon the SLDF landing zones. The attack ground on, with the SLDF having to dig the RWR out of their own fortifications and taking painful losses for every victory. The Sixth Army had moved on to Tigress (calling forward a small AFFS garrison to defend Achernar) but found themselves in much the same position. At least here, where Amaris' rule had been harsher and more demanding, the local population were willing to offer some support.
There was a similar disparity with the other arm of the attacks. Towne fell easily to Third Army, which moved quickly on to Helen before hitting serious resistance at Errai. Addicks, on the other hand, was guarded by two Republican brigades in control of three Castle Brians. Furious SLDF troops smashed headlong into the defenses, taking savage losses to nuclear and chemical weapons. The result was a brutal slugging match which the AFFS tankers attached to Third Army suffered in as much as their SLDF comrades. The fighting went on for months before each Castle Brian was taken, and in the process the cities of Addicks were badly damaged.
While this is going on, John is carrying out further reforms in the Federated Suns. The old Combat Regions are dissolved and a larger number of Polymorphous Defense Zones are created, opening more slots for advancement within the AFFS. In the Crucis March, these PDZs are primarily administrative, but in the Draconis, Capellan and Outworlds March, each PDZ is permenantly assigned a division-strength formation built around a BattleMech regiment (Syrtis Fusiliers in the Capellan March, the newly created Robinson Rangers in the Draconis March and the Ceti Hussars in the revived Outworlds March), an armoured brigade and two infantry brigades. In many cases these forces exist more on paper than in practise, but between discards from more senior regiments and new production, equipment is beginning to arrive and the expectation is that they will be at full strength by 2775.
Although Aleksander Kerensky is hundreds of light years away, he still remains in contact with John Davion. In order to secure supplies he offers a contract to Achernar BattleMechs on New Avalon to start building STY-3C Starslayers and CRB-27 Crabs, pledging SLDF accountability for any licensing issues. Blue Shot Weapons had been persistenly slow in putting the former into production, while there had never been more than a trickle of Crabs built by Cosara Weaponry before Northwind was occupied by Amaris. Rather than convert lines, Achernar build a new factory in the Outworlds March for these designs.
In addition to access to these designs, the AFFS is now receiving a fraction of production of the Cestus and of General Motors' new Nightstar (although the bulk are sent to the SLDF). In general the SLDF is spending its revenue where it receives it and the Federated Suns is the only state still paying close to pre-war taxes, which are then being spent in the Davion Military-Industrial sector, much to the benefit of John's own military build up.
By the end of the year, the Army Group has liberated all the worlds targeted previously and nine further worlds (Hamal, Yangtze, Basalt, Hean, Deneb Kaitos, Ankaa, Quentin, Pokhara and Murchison), more than half of Lockdale province. It is decided that the next step is to knock out the three systems with SDS: Al Na'ir, Lockdale and Epsilon Indi. Because it is unclear how effective the SDS will prove, Seventh Army is called in as a reserve for Third Army that will be taking the lead at Al Na'ir, the first target. According to the plan.
Unfortunately for the SLDF, their intentions had been determined by Republican intelligence and the invasion fleet arrives in a trap, caught between the drones of the Al Na'ir SDS and a large force of RWR warships waiting just outside sensor range. Although the SLDF ships had a numerical advantage, they were poorly positioned and the drones wreaked havoc upon them. Fortunately, they were able to warn off most of the transports from jumping in via HPG but leading elements of XVII Corps had already arrived and their dropships were easy prey. Ultimately the SDLF emerged victorious, destroying all fifty drones and twenty Republican warships, but at a cost of seventy of their own - including the flaghsip of Admiral Brandt - and fourteen FSN warships destroyed and almost all those that remained in need of serious repair. Forty Republican warships had managed to retreat in good order, so a fleet remained in being to threaten them.
Although there was good news from the Rim Worlds where Apollo had just fallen to DeChavilier, the attack on Al Na'ir had to be aborted. Clearly the SDS would be a tough nut to crack.
2769It is anticipated that the SLDF will require most of the year to finish placing the Rim Worlds Republic under their control, primarily due to the difficulty in reducing the Castle Brians that they were required to handover to the Republic. In the meantime, Kerensky is able to send additional warships to the Hegemony front. He does make it clear that he'd rather someone find a solution to the SDS before the intended 'second front' begins in late 2770.
Hanse suggests an attack on Nirasaki, where the SDS computer systems were developed, recalling that there had been a discovery there of something that hindered SDS co-ordination to an extent. John was unhappy that Hanse hadn't shared this before, but as Hanse pointed out he was having to work from memory.
John travels to New Florence with further FSN ships - arguably more than can be spared - and orders a change of strategy. The demoralised Third Army moved back into reserve while Sixth and Nineteenth Armies liberate worlds between Bharat and Sheratan. Fourth Army will act as a garrison force for the liberated worlds and Seventh Army, with the Swordsworn Corps, will take Nirasaki. Fortunately the world is not protected by the SDS.
The invasion forces encounters the forty Republican warships that escaped at Al Na'ir over Nirasaki. Without drones and with roughly equal ship numbers the Republican fleet is destroyed but five more FSN warships - including two Aegis crusiers - are lost. The garrison engage the attackers with every weapon at their disposal and forcing them to fight building by building for the city of Blue Heron Commune but they were at last driven out into the open and destroyed. Nirasaki Computers Collective wasn't quite levelled in the fighting and no sooner is it secured than salvage crews begin working through it, looking for anything that might suggest a weakness of the SDS.
After weeks of searching, a portable computer in one cellar store was found to contain notes by Professor Catherine Glimp of NCC. The files were rushed to the Federated Suns best technical universe and dozens of the SLDF's best engineers (those not killed by Amaris - or worse, alive in his captivity) were sent by Kerensky with all despatch to join the efforts.
In an effort to allay suspicions, John ordered a new attack upon Al Na'ir. This time, the SLDF achieved strategic surprise and very few drones had been restored to service. Although casualties from ground fire were high, LIII Corps was landed along with the Swordsworn. Three weeks later, the rest of Seventh Army was landed on Lockdale and began to win back that world, although this time the cost to the warship fleet was higher.
Shortly before the end of the year more warships arrived from the Rim Worlds. Kerensky, appalled at the losses taken by the FSN, ordered them out of the theatre. Their courage was undoubted, as was John's commitment, but from now on the battles in space would be fought by the SLDF's more advanced ships alone. In fact, John was deeply relieved as the casualties had weighed upon his mind. Many of the aging ships were to be scrapped and the FSN was authorised to begin build up to force of fully one hunded ships, all new or recently reconditioned. He even signed off on a conversion of all remaining Robinson-class transports into a new light carrier design, finally breaking the tradition tying the FSN to the Army as it's transports.
Finally, researchers produced a counter to the SDS systems. While it did not disable them, the electronic counter-measures that they developed caused some confusion in their co-ordination, preventing the drones from making their deadly concerted attacks. The technology recied its first test at Epsilon Indi and much to the horror of the Republican fleet defending the world, proved entirely effective. The SLDF lost almost fifty warships in the battle, along with seventeen transports, but the Republican fleet suffered equal casualties and all the drones in the system were destroyed.
Refitting the systems to the SL Navy would take several weeks, which forced the return of Army Groups 12 and 13 to the Hegemony to be put back to February 2770, but before Christmas John Davion was able to hand over command of Army Group 11 to General DeChavilier. Before he returned to New Avalon, in a public ceremony, General DeChavilier formally commissioned him as an SLDF General, backdating the rank to the day he took command of the Army Group.
