Fighting Rages in Port Howard! 08/29/3133
INN - Interstellar News Network
PORT HOWARD – Stormhammer units continued to engage in a desperate street-to-
street battle with local militia, Republican, and mercenary troops, continuing their
campaign to secure the planetary capital on the third day of their invasion. Despite
losses on both sides and action on other fronts, the forces of Landgrave Jasek Kelswa-
Steiner continued to press into the city’s northern sectors, though a fierce defense
coalition effort has so far managed to recapture the Towne HPG station.
“With support from the 21st Centauri Lancers and elements of the Republican Triarii
Protectors, both under the command of Knight-Errant [Kristoff] Erbe, the [Towne
Militia’s] Third Port Howard Company was able to force back a second thrust into
the northern downtown district, pushing the pro-Lyran forces north of Charles Cedar
Avenue,” Captain Willem Rolfos told INN in a hasty interview from his command
center near the beleaguered government building. Just two days ago, spokespeople for
Governor Renee Oscar at the same location told the people of Towne that the
DropShips carrying the invaders posed no threat to planetary security.
When asked about the governor’s whereabouts in the wake of the first shots fired
between local defense forces and the newest confirmed armed faction to rise since
the HPG blackout last August, Rolfos reported that he did not know her whereabouts
or that of several other leading administration officials, but did insist that all the absent
leaders were alive and well.
“[Governor Oscar] and her staff have been evacuated by order of the militia
command under the authority of Sir Erbe and of Legate [Jonathan] Jurik to a secure
location, but I am not at liberty to disclose that location at this time,” said Rolfos. “At
this hour, however, I am assured that all the government staff are alive and well, and
directing the defense effort as we speak.”
The arrival of the Stormhammer forces was detected during the last few hours of
their DropShips’ silent descent onto the plains north of Port Howard. When the
DropShips refused to communicate with the ground-based traffic controllers at the
nearby Prince John Spaceport, air defense forces and militia units were immediately
activated and placed on alert. Shortly afterward, this alert expanded to include all
defense forces on Towne, scrambling not only the militia, but elements of the 21st
Centauri Lancers mercenary command and the Republic’s Triarii Protectors. The
Lancers were recently added to the planetary defense force, while the small Triarii
detachment was on planet for a good will tour of the local militia forces.
Within hours of their arrival, rumors that the incoming DropShips were anything but
the “civilian convoy” that Oscar’s representative described them to be became fact as
weapons fire shattered the still morning air and a combined force of roughly two
battalions of mixed infantry, armor, and BattleMechs converged on the northern
sectors of Port Howard, briefly overrunning the first line of defenders and penetrating
deep into the city. From that point on, the battle for Port Howard has raged almost
non-stop, with fighting between militia and Stormhammer infantry turning once-quiet
suburban neighborhoods into bloody, house-to-house battlegrounds.
Casualty reports have yet to be released at this writing, though militia commanders
have admitted their losses could be as high as 500, while area hospitals are reporting a
shortage of bed space due to the number of civilian and military wounded. INN field
reporters in the contested sectors have reported armored vehicles and ’Mechs on both
sides have produced an “astonishingly high” level of collateral damage in the fierce
fighting, with Stormhammer forces only slightly giving ground. Meanwhile, additional
actions occurring outside the general vicinity of Port Howard appear to have already
begun to taper off as Stormhammer elements continue to fall back and consolidate
near the capital, but at present, all estimates place the current fighting as a virtual
standstill.
“It remains unclear at this point how much damage we have inflicted on the enemy,”
Rolfos said in a rare moment of candor, “but rest assured the combination of our
defending forces will soon prevail.”
Towne Log
+ Crap! Steiners! We’re surrounded by Drac, Feddie, and Clanner wannabes, and
who invades us in the end? The freaking, money-grubbing Steiners! This universe is
going to Hades in a handbasket! :- Synnik
+ I hear you! I would have laid odds the Dragon’s Fury would land here first. Heck, I
expected this to be White Hand, even! But Steiners? That I never would have seen
coming, not after all the good vibes we were getting before the HPGs went dark. :-
WetWillie
+ Guys, try and remember this is another breakaway group! You heard that
manifesto, yesterday! Kelswa-Steiner’s Skye, not Steiner, no matter what the name
says. He’s in it for the same reason as all the others – power, pure and simple. And
his troops aren’t here to set up housekeeping, I think, or they wouldn’t be so
indiscriminate with their weapons fire – they hit a hospital last night, for Stone’s sake!
Maybe it was a missed shot, but it shows the lack of concern. This is a raid, now! A
simple smash-and-grab operation! :- Chungabunga
+ At least Erbe has finally shown up in all this – sort of. I was beginning to worry our
homegrown Knight actually lost his nerve to the Sweiners! That would be such a
drag! :- GreasL
+ Or maybe more than that. Has anyone seen ElSi on lately? :- Draco041
+ Huh? :- CMike
INN - Interstellar News Network
PORT HOWARD – Stormhammer units continued to engage in a desperate street-to-
street battle with local militia, Republican, and mercenary troops, continuing their
campaign to secure the planetary capital on the third day of their invasion. Despite
losses on both sides and action on other fronts, the forces of Landgrave Jasek Kelswa-
Steiner continued to press into the city’s northern sectors, though a fierce defense
coalition effort has so far managed to recapture the Towne HPG station.
“With support from the 21st Centauri Lancers and elements of the Republican Triarii
Protectors, both under the command of Knight-Errant [Kristoff] Erbe, the [Towne
Militia’s] Third Port Howard Company was able to force back a second thrust into
the northern downtown district, pushing the pro-Lyran forces north of Charles Cedar
Avenue,” Captain Willem Rolfos told INN in a hasty interview from his command
center near the beleaguered government building. Just two days ago, spokespeople for
Governor Renee Oscar at the same location told the people of Towne that the
DropShips carrying the invaders posed no threat to planetary security.
When asked about the governor’s whereabouts in the wake of the first shots fired
between local defense forces and the newest confirmed armed faction to rise since
the HPG blackout last August, Rolfos reported that he did not know her whereabouts
or that of several other leading administration officials, but did insist that all the absent
leaders were alive and well.
“[Governor Oscar] and her staff have been evacuated by order of the militia
command under the authority of Sir Erbe and of Legate [Jonathan] Jurik to a secure
location, but I am not at liberty to disclose that location at this time,” said Rolfos. “At
this hour, however, I am assured that all the government staff are alive and well, and
directing the defense effort as we speak.”
The arrival of the Stormhammer forces was detected during the last few hours of
their DropShips’ silent descent onto the plains north of Port Howard. When the
DropShips refused to communicate with the ground-based traffic controllers at the
nearby Prince John Spaceport, air defense forces and militia units were immediately
activated and placed on alert. Shortly afterward, this alert expanded to include all
defense forces on Towne, scrambling not only the militia, but elements of the 21st
Centauri Lancers mercenary command and the Republic’s Triarii Protectors. The
Lancers were recently added to the planetary defense force, while the small Triarii
detachment was on planet for a good will tour of the local militia forces.
Within hours of their arrival, rumors that the incoming DropShips were anything but
the “civilian convoy” that Oscar’s representative described them to be became fact as
weapons fire shattered the still morning air and a combined force of roughly two
battalions of mixed infantry, armor, and BattleMechs converged on the northern
sectors of Port Howard, briefly overrunning the first line of defenders and penetrating
deep into the city. From that point on, the battle for Port Howard has raged almost
non-stop, with fighting between militia and Stormhammer infantry turning once-quiet
suburban neighborhoods into bloody, house-to-house battlegrounds.
Casualty reports have yet to be released at this writing, though militia commanders
have admitted their losses could be as high as 500, while area hospitals are reporting a
shortage of bed space due to the number of civilian and military wounded. INN field
reporters in the contested sectors have reported armored vehicles and ’Mechs on both
sides have produced an “astonishingly high” level of collateral damage in the fierce
fighting, with Stormhammer forces only slightly giving ground. Meanwhile, additional
actions occurring outside the general vicinity of Port Howard appear to have already
begun to taper off as Stormhammer elements continue to fall back and consolidate
near the capital, but at present, all estimates place the current fighting as a virtual
standstill.
“It remains unclear at this point how much damage we have inflicted on the enemy,”
Rolfos said in a rare moment of candor, “but rest assured the combination of our
defending forces will soon prevail.”
Towne Log
+ Crap! Steiners! We’re surrounded by Drac, Feddie, and Clanner wannabes, and
who invades us in the end? The freaking, money-grubbing Steiners! This universe is
going to Hades in a handbasket! :- Synnik
+ I hear you! I would have laid odds the Dragon’s Fury would land here first. Heck, I
expected this to be White Hand, even! But Steiners? That I never would have seen
coming, not after all the good vibes we were getting before the HPGs went dark. :-
WetWillie
+ Guys, try and remember this is another breakaway group! You heard that
manifesto, yesterday! Kelswa-Steiner’s Skye, not Steiner, no matter what the name
says. He’s in it for the same reason as all the others – power, pure and simple. And
his troops aren’t here to set up housekeeping, I think, or they wouldn’t be so
indiscriminate with their weapons fire – they hit a hospital last night, for Stone’s sake!
Maybe it was a missed shot, but it shows the lack of concern. This is a raid, now! A
simple smash-and-grab operation! :- Chungabunga
+ At least Erbe has finally shown up in all this – sort of. I was beginning to worry our
homegrown Knight actually lost his nerve to the Sweiners! That would be such a
drag! :- GreasL
+ Or maybe more than that. Has anyone seen ElSi on lately? :- Draco041
+ Huh? :- CMike
| August 29, 3133 |