From the Campaign Journal of Major Jospeh Petrie

Following the unexpectedly heavy resistance encountered to our initial landings, Major Irisz Magyari opted to conduct further investigations of the disposition of the CCAF forces on Fletcher. Her agents were able to infiltrate Royce and uncover a number of leads as to what exactly was going on with the Capellan forces. Their discoveries confirmed our suspicions that the 1^st Liao Guard had dug in on-world and assumed an entirely defensive stance.

While there were no known CCAF movements, the mercenaries did make one curious discovery. The Capellans had been importing large amounts of heavy machinery onto the world, and then distributing it to different places without actually using it, and rather stockpiling it for unknown reasons. Several locations were identified as destinations for this equipment; among them was Fenris Keep, a former Wolf Clan (and later Steel Wolf) enclave on the world. Another location identified was a shipping facility on the shores of the Arevass River.

Major Magyari opted to launch an attack on the Arevass facility in order to both determine what the CCAF were doing with these supplies as well as attempt to discover more about their forces. The attack was carried out by the Irregulars’ assault lance, while the rest of the unit were performing distracting attacks on other targets. In addition, any supplies located would be targeted for extraction.

It is fair to say that the operation was a success on both counts.

The Assault Lance made contact with a hostile unidentified force at the facility. Consisting of an Augmented Lance, the defending force had no markings and made no attempts at identification. However, as three of the designs were of Capellan origin (Thunder, Agrotera, Warhammer 5L) while the others were Clan designs that are in use by the CCAF (Rifleman IIC 8 and Bellona), the conclusion can be reached that this was a CCAF force, likely from a Warrior House unit.

The defenders attempted to stop the mercenary force but were ultimately unsuccessful. Both the Thunder and Warhammer were destroyed (the with latter salvageable) as well as one of the Bellonas. While the others escaped, both ‘Mechs were heavily damaged. While the Thunder’s MechWarrior did survive the destruction of his ‘Mech, complications from his injuries prevented further questioning. (EDITOR’S NOTE: A two on a Medtech roll to treat a pilot with five hits)

The Irregulars suffered no losses in the attack, although two of their BattleMechs did suffer some system damage, though nothing that will sideline them for an extended period.

Investigation of the facility, however, revealed the truth behind the unusual movements of the imported supplies. The packaging crates earmarked as construction equipment instead contained older-model but still serviceable CCAF-issue equipment. This included small arms, body armour, explosives, ammunition, Battle Armour and even ‘Mech-scale weapons and equipment, possibly for use in converting IndustrialMechs. In addition, more empty shipping crates and supporting manifiests were found corresponding to several Federated Suns shipping lines.

Based on these discoveries, it is theorized that these units were being routed via Fletcher to supply pro-Cappelan insurgent units on Federated Suns border worlds. Based on this evidence, it is likely that the Augmented Lance was from Warrior House Ijori, who have used such tactics on other Federated Suns and Republic worlds. Their presence would explain why the Liao Guards have taken up a more defensive posture.

We had enough time before the arrival of Cappelan reinforcements to salvage a good portion of the stored supplies, which have been earmarked for relocation to AFFS units (A destination that has a certain irony to it to my mind). The rest of the facility and its supplies were torched to deny their use to the Capellans.