Dateline: Johnathan -- Capellan Front, Dec 21, 3028
The AFFS 5th Crucis Lancers withdrew to their lines under orders and watched quietly as the 2nd Kearny Highlanders marched by, pipes and drums playing "Scotland the Brave". The Highlanders packed their families and loaded their weapons and supplies into ther DropShips and left Johnathon peacebly with the blessings of the troops with whom they had been bitterly engaged just one week before.
On Highspire, the 1st Kearny Highlanders collected their families and belongings and began to load their DropShips. Romano Liao's capitol world did not take this tamely; without waiting for orders, a Capellan tank crew opened fire on them, starting a drawn-out battle that left Highspire strewn with wrecked vehicles and dead Capellans before the Highlanders managed their escape offworld.
Marion's Highlanders and McCormack's Fusiliers were stationed on Elgin. In a tense standoff, two battalions of Capellan 'Mechs watched closely as the units embarked. No battle was joined, much to the amazement of all.
Historians will remember that the tradition-bound world of Northwind was taken by the Federated Suns duting the Second Succession War, when all but two of the six Northwind Highlander regiments were offplanet, serving in the interior of the Capellan Confederation. The Highlanders were already famous as mercenaries, and this reputation was upheld by the 3rd Kearny and the Ben Nevis regiments, which were utterly destroyed in this action. This slaughter, and the Capellans' highly colored accounts of atrocities visited on the survivors, caused the other four Highland regiments to swear allegiance to the Capellan Confederation. House Liao promised again and again to mount an attack on Northwind and to reunite the clans. Somehow throughout the Second and Third Succession Wars, this never proved convenient. The families kept in touch through ComStar, but seldom if ever met in person.
In the beginning of the Fourth Successon War, the Highland Regiments fought on several fronts, showing again the mettle of these legendary warriors. Supplies and support from the rest of the Capellan Confederation were slow and incomplete. (Never has Chancellor Liao's reknowned pennypinching cost him more.) The recent events on Mira (see BattleTechnology 0203, #5) had shaken the Highlanders' confidence in House Liao even further.
Col Fiona Chattan, the clan's senior Elder, approached the AFFS forces on Northwind early in December. Lt Gen Ardan Sortek, trusted advisor to Prince Hanse Davion, conducted negotiations on Northwind, and, by coded transmission, with the four offworld regiments. Agreement was reached on December 14. The AFFS was commanded to cease fighting with Highlander regiments and to give what aid they could in the grand return home. This explains the amazing scenes we mentioned earlier. The agreement states that all of the Northwind Highlanders renounce allegiance to the Capellan Confederation and swear allegiance to the Federated Suns. In return the clan elders received title to their homeworld, the assurance that their officers will always be from the Stuart clan, and Prince Hanse's personal assurance that they will to be asked to serve far from their home system except briefly in times of extreme necessity. This contrasts sharply with House Liao's dictum that no Highlander regiment be allowed to remain on a planet which was not its theater of war for more than a month. The Chancellory's policy for generations has kept the Highlanders rootless and homeless.
As the four regiments prepare to return home from all over the Capellan Frontier, the question remains as to whether there will be a home for them to return to. Fighting is fierce on Northwind, with elite units of the Draconis Combine said to be preparing a further invasion. BattleTechnology promises to bring you the first reliable reports of this action as the Draconis Combine attempts to cut off the Federated Suns' narrow corridor to Terra.
News from the Front
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