Komephoros, like many of the worlds of the former Prefecture
IX, was in a precarious situation by early 3137. Abandoned by the Republic, it
was dangerously close to the Falcon Desant,
leaving its leaders worried that their world might be the next to face the
Falcon’s talons. The result was that it became one of the worlds within the
former prefecture that joined the mutual defense coalition headed by Jasek
Kelswa-Steiner’s Stomhammers.
However, matters changed for the worse in mid-3137 as the
Wolf Clan began their invasion of the former Republic. While Komephoros was
outside the thrust of their initial invasion, the world’s leaders suddenly
became rather worried by their new situation. With the Wolves on one side and
the Falcons on the other, they felt that an invasion of their world by either
clan was inevitable. Or, even worse, that it might become a battleground for
the two Clans.
With their planetary guard depleted (ironically by
defections to the Stormhammers), the Komephoros leadership turned to hiring mercenaries
to supplement their forces and provide some degree of protection. The
government went on something of a spending spree, hiring up mercenaries as fast
as it could, even if many of them were dubious units of questionable quality.
Their hope was that they might serve as a discouragement to clan invasion, or
at the very least serve to slow down one should it occur.
 |
| Verfloger, unknown mercenary unit |
Instead, the Wolves suddenly vanished from the Prefecture,
leaving the worlds they had conquered behind as rapidly as they had taken them.
While many braced for their return, after several months it became clear that
the Wolves had simply vanished. This left the Komephoros government in a
position of having to deal with a pile of mercenary units that it no longer had
a use for, hired to protect against an invasion that would never come.
Choosing to cut their losses, the government chose to
terminate the bulk of the contracts, paying out only the bare minimum needed
and citing that none of the units they had hired had seen actual combat. The
result was unpopular, as many of those units had been hanging out for their
full payment promised, regardless of if they had seen battle or not. Things
reached breaking point when several units refused the termination, preferring
instead to stay for the duration and hope for their full pay-outs.
This dispute quickly escalated, with several units openly
going rouge and threatening the planetary government with attack if they were
not paid. Several skirmishes broke out between the renegade units and the planetary guard, while the Komephoros
government tried to get several of the fence-sitting mercenaries to side with
them against the renegades, ironically promising them new contracts with higher
rates of pay for doing such.
 |
| Thanatos, unknown mercenary unit |
The result was several months of confused, back and forth fighting
between different mercenary units and the planetary guard. Constant changes of allegiance
and defections not only from one side to another but within actual units served
only to further muddy lines and make the situation even more unclear. Opportunistic
commanders would often switch sides depending on who they saw as giving them a
better offer or as an attempt to extort more money from the government.
The fighting mostly burned itself out by early 3138, with
few units left functional on either side. Many of those came out at net losses,
having pushed things past the point where they would have gained anything.
Several of the pro-government units, however, made out well on salvage from the
fallen and managing to have contract pay-outs at the end. A few units went
rogue, however, surviving as bandits for the next few years. The last of them
were brutally hunted down and exterminated by the Ghost bears after Komephoros joined
the Raslhauge Dominon in 3144.
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