tucsonspeed6, on 06 January 2015 - 02:17 PM, said:
I'm trying to remember in lore when the clans met their first bit of resistance and decided to immediately take their ball and go home.
The first planets to feel the wrath of the Clans were those located in the
Periphery, backwater worlds which happened to lay within the Clans' line of advance. Here the Smoke Jaguars fought a number of battles for control of these poorly-defended planets, with none save
Santander's World putting up any kind of hard-fought or costly resistance. Indeed by January
3050 the Smoke Jaguars had conquered all of their targeted worlds, their only annoyance being that Clan Wolf had been quicker to complete their conquests, and looked forward to facing more challenging opposition.
[14]
With the start of the First Wave the Smoke Jaguar warriors fought their first battles against what was hoped to be more challenging and honorable opponents. To their dismay they cut through the opposing
DCMS troops like a hot knife, facing only significant opposition on
Richmond. What stung more was their apparent inability to deal with Kurita partisans, as the people rose up to fight their new oppressive overlords. Even with the assistance of ComStar administrators Smoke Jaguar warriors proved incapable of managing the masses, instead resorting to wholesale butchery in response to any resistance. This flaw was no more apparent than on the planet
Turtle Bay, where the Smoke Jaguars had unknowingly captured
Hohiro Kurita, son of
Theodore Kurita, only to discover his identity after he had escaped during a jail break. Their search to recapture him was hamstrung by local
Yakuza resistance, until finally Smoke Jaguar troops were withdrawn from the capital
Edo and the
city was leveled by the
WarShip Sabre Cat. Even the most hardline Crusaders saw the orbital bombardment as an act of cowardice and Clan Wolf took the opportunity to swear it would bid away all naval assets for the rest of the campaign, forcing the rest of the Clans to follow suit to keep their honor.
[15]
The Second Wave was far less successful as the local populaces continued to resist the Smoke Jaguar's iron grip, requiring more troops be held back to keep control. Matters were helped less by the fact that Clan Wolf was once again outpacing the Jaguars, causing many to vent their frustration on the increasingly poor and hungry civilians. The Clan eventually brought forth Provisional Garrison Clusters, second-line units with inferior equipment, to garrison their conquered territory and free up front-line units for the Third Wave. Unfortunately these PGCs were ill-prepared for the wave of rebellions which sprung up around them, supplied in secret by Theodore Kurita, while the so-called Paradise syndrome struck the warrior caste, causing many to fight Trials of Possession with each other over the rich bounty they beheld. IlKhan Showers was forced to intervene personally in the matter, even leading Smoke Jaguar units in battle, in order to overcome the Third Wave's bad start. The Jaguars managed to finish ahead of the other three Clans, but were still overshadowed by Clan Wolf's capture of more planets and the capital world of
Rasalhague.
[16][17]
The Fourth Wave saw the heaviest fighting since the start of the invasion as fresh, well-equipped DCMS units appeared on the front lines, freed from patrolling the borders of FedCom space. It also saw the Jaguar's first true defeat during the attempted conquest of
Wolcott, where Hohiro Kurita laid a trap for the attacking Jaguars and captured several OmniMechs and two dozen
Elemental suits. The shock of this defeat paled in comparison when it was learned that ilKhan Showers was killed during the battle of
Radstadt. Both Jaguar Khans remained oddly silent as the Clans debated and agreed on returning to Clan space and elect a new ilKhan, their shock and grief finally broken when the Jade Falcon Khan suggested they turn their rage on Clan Wolf. A conspiracy to blame the former ilKhan's death on Wolf Khan Kerensky failed thanks to the
bondsman Phelan Kell's testimony, as did a second to elect Kerensky as the new ilKhan and allow a more Crusader-minded Khan to lead Clan Wolf when
Natasha Kerensky instead took his place. IlKhan Kerensky "thanked" the Jaguars by assigning as a supporting partner their rivals
Clan Nova Cat, though the Jaguar Khans managed to sidestep this somewhat by simply handing over their most rebellious worlds for the Nova Cats to deal with.
[18]
The Smoke Jaguars were determined to capture a capital world, seeing it as a way to regain the necessary clout to challenge Ulric for the position of ilKhan, and for the Fifth Wave they set their sights on
Luthien. When Theodore Kurita learned of the Clans' target he began preparations to defend the world, only to be surprised when he received unexpected help. Though
Hanse Davion, Prince of the Federated Commonwealth, had sworn to Theodore that no
AFFC forces would invade Combine space for the duration of the hostilities, he conceived of an alternative and managed to convince the
Kell Hounds and Wolf's Dragoons to assist House Kurita in the
Battle of Luthien. The appearance of the two elite mercenary units was just enough to secure victory and deal the Jaguars a devastating and humiliating blow, one which they took out on their Nova Cat allies and subjugated population. It took over a month for them to recover their losses, and another month to finish their Fifth Wave conquests, taking heavier than expected losses and losing all hope of catching up with Clan Wolf. Eager for a chance to redeem themselves in the eyes of the other Clans, the Jaguar Khans overcame their instinctual distrust of ilKhan Kerensky and took heart from his announcement that the fate of Terra would be decided in a proxy battle on
Tukayyid.
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