SIS File 54371a-3133-A

I know this is a bit old and not exactly informative, but I felt that it would be useful to our ‘Lion hunting’ files. It was ‘borrowed’ from our friends at MIIO; after reviewing the contents, you can understand why they were reluctant to share.

As one of the worlds captured from the Taurian Concordat during Operation MATADOR, Norman’s World had faced a series of raids from TDF forces in the subsequent decades. As an effort both to discourage raiding while also providing a stabilizing force along the border, the 12^th Highland Gryphons, a mercenary unit with a long history of service to the Federated Suns, were assigned to the world. Acting as both a garrison and a ready response force, they had served as an effective deterrent to Taurian adventurism.

This only makes what happened to them even more inexplicable.

At approximately 0200 hours local on August 8, 3132, an unidentified force dropped onto the 12^th’s position at Fort Matilda. The incoming craft had gone largely undetected, having come from a well-concealed pirate point and having expertly mingled with civilian traffic. A complete communications blackout, aided by a combination of ECM coverage and likely sabotage, resulted in nobody outside of the unit knowing what was going on.

At the same time, two aerospace fighters, identified as Lightnings, attacked the HPG in Krasner City. Within a minute, the two craft had destroyed the HPG transmitter/receiver before breaking contact and dropping off air traffic control radar. Subsequent investigation has not revealed if the HPG had been effected by the “Grey Monday” blackout or not due to the complete destruction of its equipment.

The planetary defense command attempted to contact the 12^th, only to find communications completely cut off. Scout units were sent to investigate, but also fell victim to the same communication blackout. Eventually, a scout returned, having discovered that both the mercenaries and the attacking unit had seemingly vanished. Fort Matilda had clearly been attacked with many of the structures deliberately destroyed or badly damaged.

However, no trace of either unit could be found. The 12^th, as well as their supporting personnel and dependants had apparently vanished. In addition, the unit’s DropShips had also departed along with the attackers. While some debris was found that could be matched to the 12^th’s units, there was far less of it then would be expected, and not enough to account for the entire unit’s strength. No traces of bodies could be found, either from the 12^th and its dependants or the Fort Matilda garrison and staff.

While most of Fort Matilda had been destroyed, detailed investigation found some surviving security surveillance footage that served to confirm that a battle had indeed taken place. However, this failed to shed any light on the identity of the attacking forces or what exactly had unfolded. The few units identified were of designs that did not point to a specific attacker (Warhammer, Black Hawk, Standard Battle Armour), with the units also being completely unmarked. Detailed analysis suggests that the unit was not Taurian in origin. We have a complete enough picture of TDF troop movements at the time to show that there are no units unaccounted for in whole or part that could have been used in the attack.

As such, both the identity of the unit that attacked Norman’s World and the fate of the 12^th Highland Gryphons currently remain open. Given the timing of the assault and the destruction of the Krasner City HPG, it can be fairly assumed that the attack was a part of the broader “Grey Monday” operation. However, why the attacking force went so far as to deliberately target the 12^th remains unknown, as the unit’s destruction would seem to be external to that objective.