Colonel Dragos 'The Dragon' Ibanescu, commander of the Third Ryan's Rebels Regiment had known that the locals would surrender rather than fight. They were too loyal to the Boy's Father to do otherwise. Instead of killing the locals pre-emptively, however, Dragos used their loyalties as a trap for the Boy. After all, if the Boy sent part of his forces to Kosov to accept the surrender of the local Militia, that gave Dragos a shot at picking off some of the Boy's forces ahead of any major clash. He'd expected maybe a company or two, but a whole battalion had been sent, and one of mechanized and jump infantry to boot. True, they had towed artillery with them, but compared to the Combat Vehicles, Infantry, and most importantly, Mech Forces at his command, a little artillery was not a true problem. Dragos couldn't believe his luck!
He'd already had his regiment ready to move out when the enemy Battalion had taken the bait, once he'd had confirmation, the Regiment sprung into action, closing the trap on the Hapless Enemy Battalion. Of course, the militia lending their support to the enemy hadn't been expected, nor had the enemy's uncannily powerful artillery. Towed Artillery cannons firing specialized munitions had taken out several of his light and Medium Battlemechs from kilometers out and had even managed to somehow lay a minefield with a specialized shell that had bedeviled his combat vehicles. The counterattack by Militia Forces loyal to the enemy that had driven his stalled Combat Vehicle Forces back had forced Dragos to switch tactics.
He'd begun using his Battlemechs to engage in an artillery duel with the enemy forces artillery. However powerful the enemy artillery might be, they wouldn't be able to reposition fast enough to win an artillery duel against Mech Forces with their inherent mobility. In the meantime, Dragos had his infantry begin clearing paths through the minefield. It had stalled his attack for almost three hours, however, at a time when speed was of the essence. Dragos was hopping mad about the loss of operational speed, but they were still making progress and the minefield was around seventy-five percent cleared after two hours and forty-five minutes. At this rate, the minefield would be cleared and an attack could proceed just in time to hopefully push into the Town in time for the enemy to arrive one battalion short.
As his surplus Lyran Archer Two-S fired off a Salvo of LRM-Fifteen Missiles at a Sniper Cannon that had just fired at one of his Subordinates' Mechs, a Shadowhawk Two-K that janked hastily to the side to avoid a direct hit, Dragos felt a surge of glee watching his salvo saturate the car park that the enemy had used to dig that Sniper into, watching the building fall on top of the artillery piece, silencing it and any other enemy forces that might be using the Car Park as a shelter. Nearby, one of his men's Light Mechs, a Wasp-One-L was struck by a trio of Thumper Rounds as it tried to use its jump jets to clear a stretch of minefield and fire off its SRM-Four missiles at a clump of Militia Combat Vehicles. The Thumper rounds struck the Wasp, tearing's legs off it and causing it to fall into the minefield it had been using Jump Jets to avoid and be destroyed, but the Wasp had gotten its missiles off.
Two of the militia Scorpion Tanks were destroyed, along with two SRM Carriers, and Dragos' mechs rained LRM fire down on the Thumper Trio hidden within the municipal garden of Kosov, saturating the area with explosions and killing everything inside. Suddenly, the artillery fire from the Enemy slacked off to nothing and Dragos let out a growl of triumph, smelling blood in the water. He knew there had been Long Toms among the enemy Artillery Force as he'd lost several mechs and combat vehicles to shells that were too large to belong to anything else. If the enemy had pulled their Long Toms out, that spoke to the potential of them having Long Tom Artillery Carriers. Those were so rare as to be a fable these days, which meant that likely, the enemy had simply ordered their remaining artillery to stop firing to avoid giving their positions away. There was only one response for that.
"All LRM's Saturation fire by grid square. If they won't expose themselves by firing, we'll just level the whole town!" Ordered Dragos.
The Mass Bombardment of Kosov had begun, and Dragos knew it would only be a matter of time before the enemy revealed themselves again. They'd have to in order to stand a chance at stopping the bombardment, and if they didn't, then that just meant his engineers would be able to clear the rest of the mines in peace. That would lead to an assault that would root out the enemy, so really there was no option for the Boy's forces here that didn't result in their destruction along with any treacherous local militia that refused to fight against him. Either way, this battle would be over in the next hour.
Then Dragos would be free to turn on the Boy's Main Force. . .
XXXX
Major Wladyslaw Krupa was a lot of things, a damn fine Battalion CO, an expert poker player, a veteran drinker, and even a damn good boxer. Unfortunately, it was looking like he was also going to have to add completely fucked to that list as well. For the past forty minutes or so, his positions had been suffering a hellacious bombardment from the enemy's long-range missiles. He'd lost half of Captain Nystrom's Artillery before the bombardment had begun, and Captain Nystrom had ordered her Artillery, mostly the Long Tom Carriers and what Snipers and Thumpers she had left, to pull out and head back to Liatakarinpohja. Major Virtanen of the Militia had pulled back what remained of his mix of Scimitar Hover Tanks, Scorpion Light Tanks, and SRM Carriers to Darmagh once it became clear that the enemy was going to cut Kosov off and just pound the Town into dust.
He couldn't really blame them, they'd held out for three hours with just one Battalion plus Militia forces, which was a damn sight longer than anyone else could have expected them to, but the Militia weren't professional soldiers and there wasn't a whole lot that Hildi Nystrom could do to stave off an enemy bombardment that would hit the whole town grid square by grid square. It was better that they preserve whatever forces they could and join in whatever counterattack the Colonels and Baron were organizing to retake Kosov once the enemy inevitably took the town. They'd escaped while they could before the enemy had managed to clear enough mines to cut the remaining roads out of town.
Unfortunately, most of the rest of the Militia was made up of a foot infantry Battalion under Major Brian O'Malley, and the few platoons that weren't were Mechanized Infantry under Captain Helena Obanska. True the Mechanized Infantry had Autocannon Armed Hover IFVs mixed in with their Hover APCs, but that was cold comfort when facing down Battlemechs and proper Tank Forces. Wladyslaw Krupa refused to evacuate with his fully mechanized and Jump Infantry force when he'd be forced to leave the Foot Infantry behind whose only crime was refusing to fight against their returned Lord.
Another boom echoed from outside as the enemy continued their bombardment. Wladyslaw had chosen the Town's bank as his headquarters, largely because the vault had been built deep underground to deter thieves, Unfortunately, Kosov had chosen to trust in its location as a rallying point for the militia, along with said rallying point's prefabricated defenses to protect it. Those defenses were meant as a speed bump, the mustering point was a tripwire meant to alert regular forces from Urt or Grenid that an attack was ongoing, hold off for an hour or two, and then withdraw into the interior. It wouldn't have survived an all-out assault, like what was currently going on.
Wladyslaw had pulled his forces into the Town itself, after sending the civilian population north to Darmagh the moment he'd understood just what sort of opportunity the enemy had to catch a full Batallion out and away from the main force of the assault. It had been the only way he could think of to spit in the enemy's eye and maybe take some of them with him. His caution had proven warranted when not an hour after he'd gotten everything all set up, the enemy had begun their attack. A second boom echoed, this time followed by a rumbling as an enemy missile hit the bank. Dust fell from the ceiling as the lights flickered before steadying once again.
When the lights did stop flickering, Wladyslaw looked over at the entrance to the Bank's Underground Vault Floor to find a runner wearing the uniform of the Grenid Militia entering. The Runner had a lieutenant's pips on her uniform and her hair was pulled back into a functional set of braids that kept it free of any attempt to grab onto it. Her rifle, a Buccaneer Arms Adventurer Assault Rifle was one of the various small arms that had been designed by the late Baron Magnus Poniatowski and produced here on Butte Hold, was slung over her shoulder even as she paused to take a breath.
The Adventurer was a good rifle, rugged enough to use anywhere in the Periphery, with a unique Oxidizer Module that helped enhance the velocity of its chemically propelled ammunition. Not a patch on the Mauser C-Nine-Sixty-R pulse laser that the current Baron's Forces carried, mind you, but few things were. Wladyslaw found himself looking over the weapon while the Lieutenant paused to regain her breath. It was clearly well-maintained. Not a spot of rust on it, which of course, only said good things about the Lieutenant's diligence.
"Major, we have a problem." Spoke the Lieutenant once she'd regained her breath. "The enemy seems to have finally cleared enough of the minefields to form an invasion corridor. I've just come from Captain Svoboda's Command Post in the Grand Kosov Hotel. They're attacking from the south and east of the district, shooting at any communications equipment they come across. Our radio operator was hit in the initial attempt to storm the Hotel and Captain Svoboda sent me to deliver the news as a runner."
"At ease Lieutenant. Take a seat and rest for a bit." Commanded Wladyslaw.
He tried to think, Captain Svoboda's Company was stationed in the Commercial District of Kosov. Captains Callahan and Loken should be nearby with command posts in the main Residential District and the Industrial District respectively. They should have sent forces to support Captain Svoboda, but if they hadn't gotten a request for reinforcements out before their radioman was shot, then they might not know. Wladyslaw would send the orders himself, but he'd need to also contact Major Virtanen in the Town Hall to bring up the reserves.
"Pongratz! Get on the horn to Harry Callahan and Karolina Loken, and tell them that Jakob Svoboda needs immediate support on the double. Then get me Major Virtanen of the Militia over at the Town Hall so I can update him on the situation and get him to release our reserves!" Ordered Wladyslaw, all business now.
"Sir!" Saluted Lieutenant Emil Pongratz, the radio operator of Delta Battalion's Headquarters Group.
"While you're at it, Send Dolezal's Company out to launch an immediate counterattack! If these Pirates want the Commercial District, they're gonna have to fight for it!" Commanded Wladyslaw after a moment of thought. He should be relatively safe within the financial district of Kosov since the enemy would have to go through both Captain Svoboda and Captain Callahan to get to him. With the reserves nearby at the Town Hall with Major Virtanen, he felt all right with sending one of his companies in to launch a counterattack.
Lieutenant Pongratz saluted and went off to relay those commands on the radio. Wladyslaw turned to the Lieutenant and said, "Don't worry Lieutenant, we're not beaten yet, and the Baron should be here any minute now with two regiments."
The Lieutenant just nodded in response and went back to taking a breather, eyes slightly unfocused. Wladyslaw frowned when he saw that. It was a telltale sign of Combat Shock, the Lieutenant probably hadn't seen actual action before today. He'd have to get Doc Smith to check her out later. Fortunately, it looked like a mild case. Wladyslaw had seen those clear up after a short rest before. The key was not to let the soldier suffering through it get lost in their own head, at least in his experience. He spoke up gently as he tried to talk her out of the episode.
"Hey, Lieutenant, look at me. We'll get through this. You have my word on that, and you wouldn't want to call your commanding officer a liar now would you?" Tried Wladyslaw. His voice seemed to focus the Lieutenant on him long enough for his words to sink in through the fog she was experiencing. The Lieutenant shook her head no.
"Good. What's your name, Lieutenant?" Questioned Wladyslaw.
"Emma, Sir, Emma Seidel." Offered the Lieutenant.
"Where are your folks from, Lieutenant Seidel?" Asked Wladyslaw.
"We've lived on Butte Hold my whole life, but my grandparents were from Kufstein, Sir, both sets. My dad's family is from Neu Wien where they owned a steel mill before the Dracs confiscated it and my Mom's is from Schwarzhügel where they worked in the Iron Mines." Answered Lieutenant Seidel.
"Well, Lieutenant, my family has roots on Střední Město on Radsdadt. We owned a copper mine in the hills near there, also until the Dracs confiscated it. That practically makes us neighbors, so you can trust me when I say that we're gonna get out of this all right." Offered Wladyslaw. Lieutenant Seidel just nodded, her eyes focusing on Wladyslaw and clearing a bit. That was a good sign, but Wladyslaw was no doctor, so he still wanted Doctor Smith to check her over. He just hoped the Baron would arrive soon with the relief force.
Major Wladyslaw Krupa wouldn't want to be made a liar, after all. . .
XXXX
It had taken us a little under four hours to make the trek to Kosov, but we finally managed to arrive. As we crested the ridge along the northern road from Stahlborg, the Town of Kosov came into view, spreading out in the distance below the ridgeline. Unfortunately, it looked like while Major Krupa and the Loyalist Militia had put up a damn good fight, knocking out a number of Battlemechs and combat vehicles with artillery fire, the enemy had broken through the mines laid by the Thunder Shells of Delta Battalion's Mobile Long Toms. They'd surrounded the Town and were attacking from multiple sides. Fortunately, it didn't look like the town had fallen yet, as there was still fighting going on, but several sections of the town were utterly wrecked, putting tens of thousands of people out of their homes.
"Colonels, this has gone on long enough. It's time we ended this attack of theirs." I commed over. Colonel Frankowski was with me, but Colonel Lindqvist was already skirting to the east of the City to try and hit the enemy from the other side. It would likely take them at least twenty minutes to get into position, though.
"At once, my Lord." Came the voices of Colonels Frankowski and Lindqvist over the communications.
"We're attacking, give the order." I commanded.
I didn't wait for the response before sighting down on an enemy Battlemech with my Gauss Rifle. The Archer-Two-S had just fired a salvo of LRMs at the Town Hall, which looked like it hadn't been touched by fighting until now. I squeezed off a trio of shots at the Heavy Battlemech. The Heavy Mech was so focused on attacking that it didn't notice my shots until it was too late, our extreme range advantage against the Inner Sphere's Standard proving its worth once again. A trio of Ferro-Nickel Slugs impacted the Archer one after another, shooting off a leg and striking the LRM Ammunition storage, causing a massive explosion as all of the Archer's remaining ammunition cooked off at once from a lack of CASE Storage.
With that, several Rampages also opened up with their Gauss Rifles taking out a number of mechs even as our Dragoons and Combat Vehicles raced forward down the road that led off the ridge and into town, clashing with Light Mechs and Combat vehicles that had been taken off guard by our sudden appearance. They'd likely thought that we would still be another fifteen to twenty minutes away and that they could afford to indulge their bloodlust by taking potshots at the town to support their infantry instead of detaching forces to watch the roads. Typical lax pirate attitude. They were paying for it now.
As I sighted down on a Griffin that had just let off an LRM Salvo from the edge of its range to support the light mechs and combat vehicles moving to attack my Dragoons and Combat vehicles with a creeping barrage, I let out a soft growl. I squeezed the trigger and a Ferro-Nickel Slug struck its torso, damaging it enough to put its LRM Launcher and left arm out of action. Down to just the PPC, it could no longer provide a creeping barrage and began running after the enemy's light Mechs and Combat vehicles, hoping to add its PPC in support of the counterattack. My Second Ferro-Nickel Slug pierced through its already damaged torso, coring the reactor and coming out the back, causing it to light up like a Christmas tree as the reactor exploded.
As the front lines clashed, our Dragoons quickly got the better of the Enemy's Wasps and Stingers and our combat vehicles clearly outmatched the Scorpions and SRM Carriers of the Enemy. The enemy took heavy casualties, sometimes trading three or four to one, even as our Rampages and Griffins engaged the remainder of the Enemy's heavier Battlemechs with Gauss Rifle Fire. I managed to get one more kill, this time a Shadowhawk Two-K, though I was forced to dodge away from concentrated Artillery Fire from a group of Enemy Sniper Artillery Pieces that had been Jury-Rigged onto large trucks, likely meant to be a secret weapon we weren't expecting. The pirates weren't so lax as it seemed, apparently.
All along the line the Gun Trucks forced our Rampages to take evasive action, spearheading a counterattack by the remaining heavier enemy Mechs. We were forced to duck back behind the crest of the ridgeline and into the trees to avoid destruction. I hid behind the ridge even as I saw one Rampage go down after being just a bit too slow to duck behind the ridgeline. It was subsequently consumed by artillery fire, our first real mech loss of any campaign so far. With a growl, I hit my Jump Jets, flying up into the air and spraying the gun trucks with Ultra-Autocannon Fire from above. This unexpected tactic worked, destroying six out of sixteen gun trucks and forcing the remainder to take evasive action.
As I landed at the base of the ridgeline, the rest of the Rampages started firing, pouring Ultra-Autocannon and Gauss Rifle Fire into the enemy, lighting up the remaining gun trucks and taking out a number of enemy heavier units. The counterattack stalled after another thirty minutes of fighting, and then the enemy began to run, remaining Mechs leaving the slower combat vehicles and their infantry behind as they made a dash to the south for the edge of the battlefield. They thought that would mean safety, but instead, it only meant running right into Colonel Lindqvist's regiment. In a brief ten-minute fight, the remaining enemy Mech Force was annihilated.
The remaining combat vehicles surrendered en-masse after that, while Colonel Lindqvist sent our infantry into Kosov to root out the enemy attackers. After another hour, the battle of Kosov was finally over. It had taken over five hours, but in the end, the Third Ryan's Rebels was completely destroyed as a fighting Unit, opening the Grenid Region to us entirely. Over the next two days, we would receive confirmation via Captain Nordenfeldt, who had defected to our side and been immediately pressed into negotiating with the entirely locally raised Fourth and Fifth Ryan's Rebels Regiments, along with Raczak's Roughnecks Air Wing. The Fourth, Fifth, and Roughnecks would defect to our side.
Three days into the campaign, and we controlled the entire Western Hemisphere of Butte Hold. In return, Delta Battalion of the First Baronial Guards Regiment had been savaged holding Kosov against the Third Ryan's Rebels, down to two-thirds strength with half its artillery pool remaining, and we lost another seven Combat Vehicles damaged or destroyed, along with three Dragoons damaged and one Rampage Destroyed. However, the majority of those losses could be repaired or replaced, even Delta Battalion, of which almost all of the wounded could be expected to recover.
What couldn't be replaced was the Rampage Pilot we'd lost. Lieutenant Michael Doyle whose family had roots in the Irish Community of St. John in the Old Rasalhague Principality had been a good pilot, fallen to a counterattack by surprise gun truck artillery. He'd been given an Irish Wake by his Lance. I insisted on paying for the booze out of pocket. It was only right that I do so, he'd died because of my orders, after all. He was the first Mechwarrior I'd lost in any campaign so far, though I knew he'd be far from the last. As I sat in my command tent that night, I had to wonder if losing men under your command ever got any easier.
Ultimately, however, I would have to put that thought away for another time. There was still a war to finish winning, after all and planning that needed to be done. The Fourth and Fifth Ryan's Rebels, hereafter rechristened into the Eighth and Ninth Baronial Guards Regiments of New Ålborg had just arrived and their commanders needed to be brought into the planning. I needed to sort out logistics with the fleets in orbit for resupply from the ship-based depots to repair and replace damaged or lost equipment, and we needed to get ready to assault the Eastern Hemisphere. The best thing I could do for Lieutenant Doyle now would be to win the war and ensure he hadn't died in vain. It wouldn't bring him back to life, but it would be a form of closure.
In the end, that would have to be enough. . .
XXXX
AN: All right, so Kosov is relieved, Jozef gets two new Regiments as the locally raised regiments finally switch sides and join the militia in fighting for him, and he suffers his first lost Mechwarrior of any campaign so far. By now, the entire Western Hemisphere of Butte Hold has fallen under Jozef's control and he needs to get ready to attack into the Eastern Hemisphere. That's where Redjack Ryan and all of his named cronies from stuff like Unholy Union and the Twenty-Year Update are currently stationed. It's also where the Planetary Capital is. There's a lot that still needs doing before the War is won.
Jozef doesn't have time to really process his feelings about losing someone under his command like that. It's one thing when the losses are numbers in a report, but Jozef actually saw Lieutenant Doyle get annihilated by artillery strikes. That's shaken his confidence somewhat, though he's resolved to press on until the war is won so that the Lieutenant won't have died in vain. Unfortunately, this is only the first loss of many that he'll see outside of a report. He's only just been fighting Periphery States so far, after all. The Clans are likely to kill a lot more than just one guy.
Also, Major Krupa and Lieutenant Seidel have something going on now that the Battle of Kosov is over and he's personally talked her through a light case of Combat Shock. Expect them to crop up more in the future, especially as the years go by and they start a family together. I have plans for various characters like that, family lines proliferating through the ages. A lot of new planets are being brought into New Ålborg, after all. In a little over one year, they'll have gone from a minor, Three-World Periphery Realm, to a Twelve-World Regional Powerhouse. Those worlds are gonna need Noble Families to act as Governors, after all.
At any rate, next up will be the planning session for phase two of the Invasion of Butte Hold.
Stay tuned. . .