Battle for Twycross
Survival in Sector 0227
Only a handful of us survived that battle. Our plan was simple enough, to sweep through the mountain pass the Federated Commonwealth troops called the Great Gash. That would let us flank the main body of the Tenth Lyran Guards so that we could deliver the crushing blow that would give us Twycross.
I was in the lead Point, with the honor of paving the path for the rest of the Falcon Guards. There, on the rugged floor of the Gash, we engaged the heavily armed Federated Commonwealth infantry. They fought us so well that eventually three Points of my Star were forced to engage them. Then he showed up. Kai Allard in his Hatchetman. Those of us left opened fire, but not to much avail. Though I managed to gouge his 'mech with my SRMs, a volley from his laser left me unconscious. The last thing I remember was seeing Allard use his 'Mech's massive hatchet to swat Teel off his Hatchetman.
It was only moments before my suit's LSMS (Life-Sustaining Medical System) began to function and I was up again. Further past our position I saw the rest of the Falcon Guards moving in. My comm system was damaged, but I heard the challenge of honor that Alder Malthus made Kai Allard. As the two of them moved to meet in close combat, I tried to gain the advantage of the high ground on the north side of the Gash, in case Allard should win.
I was working m yway up the path, about 100 meters from the valley floor when it happened. I did not see what happened to Alder Malthus, but only felt the Hatchetman's initial explosion and then saw the ball of flame. This was followed by another explosion, as though the whole of Twycross had erupted. The walls of the Great Gash sank inward as if the planet were imploding. I jumped higher and harder than I ever had before. Burial in an avalanche of rock was no death for a Clan warrior. Boulder and rock slammed into me, burying me instantly to the neck when I landed. The dust and debris alone were suffocating.
My suit destroyed, it took me more than
two hours to dig myself free of the rock and ruin, all the while listening to the sounds
of the dying being picked up over the wide comm channel. An Elemental is trained to
believe that he is one with his suit, and so a part of me perished with my comrades in the
Great Gash. After the shame of our defeat, when would the Falcon Guards ever again be able
to hold their heads high with honor?
Twycross, Sector 0227, The Great
Gash, 10 September 3050
The battles for Twycross were a turning
point in the Federated Commonwealth's defense against the onslaught of the Clan invaders.
Defending the world were the elite Tenth Lyran Guards. Attacking Twycross were the Falcon
Guards Cluster of the Jade Falcons, probably the Clan's most elite unit.
The initial battles for Twycross had generally gone in favor of the Falcon Guards. The Tenth Lyran Guards were on the Curtain Plains, and if the Falcon Guards could accomplish a sweeping flanking maneuver through the Great Gash, they would break the Federated Commonwealth forces once and for all. Also driving the Falcon Guards was the knowledge that Prince Victor Ian Stiener-Davion was serving with the Guards on Twycross. Capturing the heir to the throne of one of the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere would elevate any Clan warrior in rank.
The Tenth Lyran Guards had forseen such a tactic, however, and had mined the Great Gash. The commander had sent a company of infantry into the Gash to blow it closed, to seal off just such a flanking drive by the Jade Falcons. but the advancing forces of the Falcon Guards' Trinary Delta, Delta Elemental One, had already made their way into the Gash. They immediately engaged the FC infantry, inflicting heavy losses, killing the commanding officer, and scattering the troops. If not for the arrival of Kai Allard in his Hatchetman, the Elementals would have killed or captured every enemy infantryman.
In the end Kai Allard managed to set off the explosives planted into the walls of the Great Gash. Within minutes, almost all the Falcon Guards were buried under tons of rock and debris. The Clan forces had lost the battle of Twycross because of the deeds of a handful of infantry and the brave efforts of MechWarrior Kai Allard.