Part 3: Opening Moves
On January 5th, 3064 the the Calderon forces launched Case Blue, the opening moves of a campaign against the worlds loyal to Protector Shraplen. While many expected the initial strikes would be against MacLeod's Land, the Calderon forces instead chose to target Mithron and Althea's Choice, two worlds, which despite being controlled by Protector Shraplen, had strong sympathies towards Acting Protector Calderon. It was hoped that the two worlds could be quickly captured and used as a springboard for further drives against the Shraplen forces. Simultaneously, the Red Chasseurs 1st Battalion launched a raid against Illiushin and the 3rd Battalion of the Hyades Light Infantry hit Amber Grove in an effort to tie down more of Shraplen's forces.
On Mithron, the entire regiment of Gordon's Armored Cavalry faced off against the first battalion of the 1st Taurian Lancers. The Calderon forces received significant aid in their campaign from the Far Lookers Arcologist faction, who maintained a number of facilities in the system. The Arcologists were able to gather detailed information on the deployment of the defending forces and with aid from jumpships belonging to the Far Looker's Explorer faction relay this information back to the TDF command on Taurus. On January 5th, Gordon's Armored Cavalry jumped into the system using a pirate point near Mithron. Conducting a high speed burn, the regiment dropped near the main defensive positions of the 1st Taurian Lancers catching them unprepared. While Mitchell's Lancers and Arrow's Chasseurs pounded the 1st Taurian Lancers, Simon's Banshees established a landing zone for the follow on conventional forces. This proved to be a wise choice. While the 1st Taurian Lancers were quickly shattered, losing over half of their mechs, the defenders conventional forces, consisting of an armor regiment and 2 infantry regiments, with significant fighter and VTOL support, quickly launched a counter attack.
The sheer mass of the counter attack pushed back Gordon's Armored Cavalry and allowed the survivors of the 1st Taurian Lancers to disengage. The Mitchell's Lancers and Arrow's Chasseurs fell back to the landing zones, conducting a masterful fighting withdrawal. This action bought enough time for the Armored Cavalry's conventional forces to arrive, turning the tide. After several hours of hard fighting the defending forces were shattered and the Calderon troops occupied the planetary capital. With aid from the Far Lookers, the Calderon troops were able to quickly roundup the Shraplen supporters and restore order to the world. Gordon's Armored Cavalry remained on the planet to garrison the world and protect it against a counter-attack from Shraplen's forces.
At the other end of the Concordat, the 3rd Battalion of the Taurian Guard and 1st Battalion of the Hyades Light Infantry launched an assault against Althea's Choice. Their opponent, the 1st Battalion of the Pleiades Lancers proved to be a very wiley foe. Garrisoning a world that was largely opposed to Protector Shraplen, the Lancers were supported by a very large contingent of the Concordat Constabulary and a mixed regiment of conventional forces. The attackers were aided by several resistance organizations built around members of the TDF garrison who fled to the wilds of Althea's Choice, rather then serve Protector Shraplen. The majority of these soldiers established them selves at Fort Devens in the Golan Desert. Established as part of Thomas Calderon's misguided efforts to protect the Concordat in the early 3050s, the Fort was well stocked with supplies and allowed the resistance to successfully hold off the Shraplen forces for many months. Landing at Fort Devens, the Taurian Guard and Hyades Light Infantry linked up with the resistance units and began moving against the Pleiades Lancers. The heavy mechs of the Taurian Guard, along with heavy armor support moved directly against the capital, while the lighter mechs of the Hyades Light Infantry and a hovertank detachment conducted a flanking maneuver.
Rather than being caught in the pincer movement, the defenders fell back to fortifications south of the city. The Hyades Light Infantry quickly moved to occupy the capital, as the Taurian Guard positioned themselves for an assault against the Pleiades Lancers. The Guard's assault was canceled when the local Constabulary forces began a guerrilla campaign against the Hyades Light Infantry. Using a variety of suicide and terror attacks, they inflicted some casualties on the Hyades Light Infantry before fading back into the populace. With their mechs unsuited for this type of warfare, the majority of the Calderon infantry and armor units were recalled to help with occupation duty. This forced the Taurian Guard to postpone their attack, buying the defenders valuable breathing time. While the Taurian Guard laid siege to the Pleiades Lancers, the Lancers improved their fighting positions. This situation remained stalemated for the next several months, every time the Calderon forces prepared to launch an assault, the Concordat Constabulary would attack, tying down the infantry and armor forces needed to assault the Lancers base.
Simultaneously with the assaults on Mithron and Althea's Choice, the 1st Battalion of the Red Chassuers and the 3rd Battalion of the Hyades Light Infantry launched raids again Shraplen held worlds. The Chasseurs hit the key world of Illiushin. Defended by the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Taurian Lancers, Illushin was the site of a major weapons manufacturing center. In addition to the 1st Taurian Lancers, the VMI factory was defended by an entire armored brigade. Rather then engaging the defending forces head on, the Red Chasseurs simply conducted a swift hit and run operation before returning back to their base on Landmark. While the attack only inflicted minor damage, it did convince Protector Shraplen to seek more aid against Brenda Calderon and her supporters. With the Capellan Confederation already showing signs of displeasure, at Protector Shraplen's near constant requests for more aid in fighting the rebels, there was really on 1 other option. The Protector called upon his allies in the Word of Blake to help support his efforts against the Calderon forces. Soon advanced weapons and advisers were arriving from the World of Blake to help bolster Protector Shraplen's forces.
On Amber Grove, the green 3rd Battalion of the Hyades Light Infantry faced off against the 1st & 2nd Battalions of the 3rd Taurian Lancers. The raid was intended to help keep Protector Shraplen off guard as to the intentions of the TDF, while tying down 2 mech battalions. Unfortunately for the Hyades Light Infantry the mission came apart almost from the beginning. Jumping into a pirate point in the system, the unit was detected by a patrol ship. With the element of surprise blown, the Hyades Light Infantry landed against an opponent that was fully prepared and ready for action. Fortunately for the 3rd Battalion their drop went unopposed as their aerospace escort was able to hold off the defenders fighters. Rather then landing against an unprepared enemy, the Hyades Light Infantry found themselves being attacked by the 1st Battalion of the Taurian Lancers. The Hyades Light Infantry suffered a serious blow when Brigadier James was killed early in the battle. The inexperienced 3rd battalion soon lost any semblance of cohesion and chaos took over. This allowed the Taurian Lancers to push back the Hyades Light Infantry and inflict heavy casualties on them.
The Hyades Light Infantry seemed doomed until Subaltern Hanna Klinger managed to rally the battalion. Using their superior mobility the Hyades Light Infantry was able to extricate themselves from the Lancer's attack, falling back to the countryside with the aid of significant support from their aerospace fighters. After a 12 hour chase the Haydes Light Infantry was finally able to link up with their dropships and escape off world. Only 2 badly damaged companies managed to escape the world, while the Taurian Lancers only suffered light damage. The 3rd Battalion of the Hyades Light Infantry returned to their base on Spitz where they began to rebuild.
In March, the TDF followed up its initial success with an assault on Renfield. The Renfield system is home to the Knossos Asteroid Habitat, a large station established by the Far Lookers. While Shraplen's supporters held the world of Renfield, the Far Lookers controlled the Knossos Asteroid Habitat. So while there was only a minimal garrison force on Renfield itself, the system had a large naval detachment that Protector Shraplen had deployed to blockade the Far Lookers base.
On March 12, a hand pick fleet of the Calderon Taurian Navy jumped into a pirate point near the Knossos Asteroid Habitat. Under heavy cover of aerospace fighters, the fleet deployed a flotilla of dropships which began to close with the Shraplen forces. As the blockade fleet redeployed to engage the invaders, they were surprised by the fact that the attackers were not slowing down to engage them but instead were constantly accelerating. As the Calderon flotilla approached the Shraplen blockade, the ships launched a large number of assault shuttles, each of which was packed with Marines trained in zero-g combat. While the Calderon fleet sped past the blockade, the Marines deployed from their shuttles and began boarding operations against the Shraplen vessels. Caught of guard, most of the vessels were quickly overwhelmed and their crews subdued with minimal damage or loss of life. It was only on the fleet flagship, the TCS Vladimer M'Buku that there was any significant resistance, which was captured after an hour of heavy fighting.
With the capture of the blockade fleet, the Calderon transports were able to land the 3rd Battalion of the Concordat Commandos on Renfield. The battle on Renfield was anti-climatic, after a few quick battles the local defenders surrendered to the Calderon forces. By the end of March the entire system was under the control of Acting Protector Brenda Calderon.
The beginning of April saw two worlds reclaimed by the Calderon forces and a third still being contested. Satisfied with their progress, Acting Protector Calderon and Senior Marshal Makepeace prepared to launch the second phase of their attack, but the Protector Shraplen and his allies in the Word of Blake had other ideas.
