Mission Brief: Operation III: Landslide

[Star Captain Killian Bekker]

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- Incoming Coded Message -- Command Instruction Follows -
- Decode Sabre Protocol - GALxBravo 182nd: 2nd -
- Disseminate by need only -
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Operation Codname: Landslide
Type: Infiltration and Sabotage
Planet: New Wessex
Terrain: Glacial Ice Shelf
Heat Efficiency: 100%
Time: Day

NARRATIVE

Recent intel data suggests that the Word of Blake is building something on the southern continent of New Wessex. Judging by the amount of resources that have been sent there, a mech factory capable of constructing Assault Class Mechs is likely to be present or under construction. Obviously, this is not acceptable and whatever work is being done there, needs to be stopped and future operations there discouraged.

This mission is fairly straightforward. Infiltrate the base and uncover what exactly is going on here. Once that has been determined, we are to destroy the base and render it unsalvageable by any means. Once that has been accomplished, we are to dustoff before any sort of response can be made. With all of the tensions in the area between the Combine and Lyrian forces, there will be more than enough naval action to discourage any sort of retaliation at least right away.

New Wessex is lightly populated, but due to the high tensions in the area, we are going to be more or less considered as Combine forces should we be questioned, which isn't far from the truth.

Now, because this mission requires stealth, most of you are going to be on foot. Those that are selected as standby units will be stationed with your mechs should we require it. Once things start blowing up, you will probably want a mech, which if intel is right, there should be some sitting around to use and help you escape.

MISSION OBJECTIVES

Primary
- Infiltrate the base undetected
- Determine the base's purpose
- Completely destroy the base and render it useless

Secondary
- Acquire technology and equipment
- Secure intelligence data for examination and future use

THREAT REPORT

Limited Data Available.

Blakist forces at least at company strength. Early recon data suggests that the base defenses aren't fully functional and so there will be gaps in their perimeter. Patrols are fairly light due to the small population and lack of exploration of the area.

FRIENDLY SUPPORT

- 2 Lances TBD (Gokusotsu only)
- Additional support TBD

PLANETARY OVERVIEW

Lacking major resources, save a few common industrial metals and modest agricultural produce, New Wessex would likely have been spared the worst of the Age of War and the Succession Wars if it were not for its location on the border near the Lyran Commonwealth. In the First War, Lyran troops attempting to seize the planet launched a blitzkrieg spearheaded by a small fleet of light WarShips. Intending to launch a barrage at the major cities, in hopes of eliminating all opposition outright, the Lyran fleet was instead surprised by the arrival of a Combine naval force to intercept them. In the orbital battle that followed, one Lyran battleship, crippled by a devastating broadside attack, spun into the planet’s atmosphere, where its fusion reactors lost containment and exploded before the safeguards could engage, spilling toxic levels of radiation into the sky and raining flaming debris across the western coastline of Jarichosia, New Wessex’s northernmost continent. Though no Lyran forces landed on New Wessex that day, the aftermath of the assault was profound, and even today incidence of lung and skin cancer on this planet remain higher than the local average.
Through the following centuries, New Wessex was raided several times by Lyran forces, but the biggest engagement fought on New Wessex in the wars that followed the Star league’s fall happened in 3021, when the famous Wolf’s Dragoons mercenary unit spearheaded a Lyran attack against Combine troops massing here for an impending assault on the Commonwealth. The massive battle, fought in and around Harlow’s Wood and the capital city of Hallanan on the southern continent, Lancombe, lasted only a week, but the legends around it remain in the hearts and minds of the native “Wessexans” today, and a cottage industry has grown around tourism based on that famous battle.
New Wessex was ceded to The Republic, along with most worlds in the Draconis Combine’s Dieron Military District, after the end of the Word of Blake Jihad. Despite the relocation directives enacted by Devlin Stone, a majority of the planet’s population still clings to the Japanese-styled cultural heritage of the Combine. New Wessex is sparsely inhabited, with most of the population living in towns and cities scattered on the coastlines of the Lancombe, Jarichosia, and Toridine continents, while the south polar continent of Thelios, covered completely by a glacial ice shelf that touches the southern reaches of Lancombe, has yet to be fully explored.

COMMANDER'S NOTES

I know you all want a piece of the Blakists and you want to avenge those on Rochelle and Tau Ceti IV, but we cannot afford to let our emotions cloud our thinking.

Keep in mind that you aren't going out in your mechs and that your body can't take as much punishment. With that being said, I'd rather not add another person to the body count caused by the Word of Blake. I also just want to say, don't be afraid. They may be honorless foes, but they are human. No guts, no galaxy. Go get 'em MechWarriors.