Clan Wolf Mission : Golden Spade

Mission Instructions

- Incoming Coded Message -- Kurultai Instruction Follows -
- Decode Jaw Protocol - GALxAlpha 327th: 3rd
- Disseminate by need only -

Little remains in the way of resistance from the Falcon. The Battle of Broken Hope is over and we are busy hunting down the stragglers. However, the enemy's will is by no means broken. It appears they are willing to fight to the death. We expect nothing less.

The enemy is suspected of using the Held Shrine PALACE COMPLEX north of Broken Hope, Morges, as cover for a COMM STATION and staging area for Falcon reinforcements traveling south to the bay. Around the PALACE COMPLEX there is a force shield, that will be rendered inoperative by friendly Kell Hound fighters.

Follow the NAV sequence, DESTROY the ROAD BLOCK at NAV OMEGA. Find the PALACE COMPLEX, inspect it to confirm its contents and then level it if the enemy is using it.

OBJECTIVES

Situations and Aftermaths

--Excerpt from the diary of Pilot Vyktor, Clan Wolf

"I am not particularly proud of what happened at Broken Hope on that cold morning. I do not think that any of our pilots, MechWarriors, or commanders are proud either. And none of us expressed any happiness at our victory--for the deaths of warriors is never a cause for celebration. Certainly, we were relieved that the threat to Clan Wolf had been eliminated. But none of the usual high spirits that usually accompany a victory were present that day. Instead, a sense of weariness, a sense of loss, seemed to hang over our victory."

"The outcome of the battle was far from certain as our forces gathered among the rolling, windswept hills twenty kilometers east of the Bay of Broken Hope. Ice and snow lay undisturbed on the mammoth green hulls of the Jade Falcon DropShips, and Khan Phelan must have realized that the battered force had no intention of withdrawing. He must have realized that the Falcons were determined that the fate of the Wolf Clan would be decided in the frozen, forgotten wastelands of Morges. I believe that is why he gave the orders that he did."

Situation

Ten days of fighting in the frozen wastes of Australarctica had taken a heavy toll on both the Jade Falcons and the Wolves. Two Galaxies of Falcons had dropped onto the planet--five front-line Clusters and four garrison Clusters. Now only three front-line Clusters and two of the Falcons' garrison Clusters remained operational. Additionally, severe ammunition shortages had reduced the effectiveness of all Falcon combat units and left two of the Falcon Clusters operating at half their capability. But the fighting had significantly weakened the Wolf forces also. Six Stars of 'Mechs had been destroyed or rendered inoperational, and three Elemental Points had perished as well. The Kell Hounds had lost five BattleMech lances.

Despite their losses, both sides remained fully capable of destroying one another, and neither side could afford to pull out of the battle. The Falcon forces represented that Clan's only intact units remaining--and the Jade Falcons' only hope for destroying the Wolves on  the battlefield. For the Wolves, the stakes were even higher. Khan Phelan's forces carried the genetic legacy of the Wolf Clan, and so a defeat could spell the permanent end of the Clan.

Both commanders realized that the fighting would leave one of the forces destroyed, and quite possibly both. For a brief period, an uneasy calm fell over the battlefield, as if both commanders were reluctant to resume the battle. Then the roar of aerospace fighters broke the stillness.

Aftermath

As the MechWarriors of Clan Wolf watched from their protected positions in the hills, Wolf aerospace fighters swarmed through the frigid air. Using missiles, lasers, and PPCs, the fighters unleashed a hellish rain of death down onto the Falcon forces. Flight after flight of Falcon aerospace fighters scrambled from their DropShips to defend the Falcon 'Mechs, but almost immediately they ran into waves of Kell Hound fighters. Within minutes, a tangled mass of fighters filled the skies over Broken Hope, twisting and turning amid the angry, stabbing beams of PPCs and lasers and the burning dots of tracers. As the Falcon fighters tried in vain to destroy the mercenary fighters, the Wolf aerospace wings continued their strafing runs, streaking over the Falcon command center then disappearing into the jagged hills, then returning to inflict further damage on their targets. Soon large clouds of steam, smoke, flame, and shrapnel filled the air, creating a black fog that obscured the Falcon positions. Open commlink channels crackled with the terse commands of aerospace pilots and the cries of wounded and dying MechWarriors.

When the last Falcon aerospace fighter fell from the sky, the Wolf fighters ceased their onslaught and Khan Phelan led the 'Mechs of the Wolves and Kell Hounds toward the Falcon positions. There they found a scene of overwhelming devastation. The twisted forms of blackened 'Mechs littered the ground, and small fires seemed to burn everywhere, attracting small groups of Falcon MechWarriors huddling against the cold.

It was ended. The Jade Falcons, who had come to Morges to destroy the Wolves, had themselves been mauled. The bloodied Wolf, Warden to the last, had finally found the road home. The brutal campaign called the Refusal War was over.