The Sword and the Bull[]
Protector Kaff Doru was well aware of the severity of the situation facing Taurus. Covert teams that deployed to blind the capital of the Taurian Condordat were found out and failed their mission before their fleet was able to threaten the planetary defenders. They had not yet even reached Flannagan’s Nebulea before the Special Asteroid Support Force found them out. Not even the Blakist teams were up to the fight the SASF Marines put up.
Taurian Naval Vessels led by Marshal Laura Collins created a blockade behind the asteroid field, ready to focus down any vessels that made it through the SASF and the many defenses within. That vast array of technical advances made it so Protector Doru was able to view the standoff in real time, give or take a couple seconds of latency.
The additional time available after the discovery of the attacking fleet allowed him to recall multiple units through various pirate points; The Clean Kill, Gordon’s Armored Cavalry, and the Concordat Jaegers all joined the Taurian Guard on Taurus. Word was sent to the Concordat Commandos, 3rd Taurian Lancers, and 1st Taurian Lancers to fall back to the Pleiades Cluster and prepare for the worst.
He had hoped to also bring in the Red Chasseurs however, they were already engaged by another invasion force on Landmark. The additional forces on New Vandenburg had also gone there to fight. Taurus had its defenders and stood defiantly against the Word of Blake. Just outside the command bunker within the modernized Castle Brian stood his Atlas, the new SHRF “Sheriff” variant; a formidable machine, ready for battle.
Returning his eyes from his Atlas to the holopanel ahead of him, he could see the Marshal berating a hooded, shadowy figure. Marshal Collins was fiery and well suited to standing up to this invasion force. Her husband was a Clan Hell Horses freeborn from two Elementals who served as the bridge guard, a shocking opponent for many in this area of the Inner Sphere. A long story how he wound up in Taurian space but, just goes to show how her ferocity matches his for them to have worked out a 10+ year marriage so far.
So far, two nuclear weapons had been fired from the Word of Blake fleet, both had been detonated long before they hit their intended targets, by the SASF. Her vessel had already armed and prepared a dozen nuclear warheads and there were more in both the fleet and the asteroid field. She had Doru’s full blessing to use the nuclear weapons at will against the Blakists.
It was very clear from the conversations between the two, the Blakists were intending to take Taurus and will be attacking imminently, however, they were biding their time. With a couple of final, vicious words, the screen cut off and the Marshal approached Doru’s holopanel.
“Protector, I have an update.”
“Let’s hear it Marshal.”
“This Blakist bastard seems to think he is going to rout our forces. They certainly outnumber us but, the asteroid field is giving him pause. I have convinced him through the activation of our nuclear arsenal, not to use nuclear weapons for now, sir.”
“Well done, that will give the SASF a chance to disable a number of vessels before we have that inevitable situation. Marshal, it appears they are not acting aggressively, mostly holding outside of weapons range.”
“Yes, Protector, I think they are waiting on additional forces, especially seeing that Landmark is under attack, there’s no reason to not think there are more attackers.”
“You have this Marshal, you can keep Taurus safe. Contact me with any additional updates.”
“Yes, sir!” she saluted. He returned her salute and the feed ended.
Doru switched his focus to the SASF defenses. There were a great many new defenses added and many changes to the asteroid field over the years. Even if additional Blakists showed up, it would be a bloody event to breach the field and even bloodier to reach the surface.
Massive ground and orbital batteries were in place to deter orbital bombardment and plenty of weapons emplacements orbited the planet with the moon, Drusilla. In place were anti-WMD weapon systems as well. This was a fortress of a world and would not be broken easily. It made sense that the Blakists would not skip it and continue on their invasion path, they would have much more difficulty attempting to conquer it if engaged elsewhere.
Should they reach the surface? Millions of the Taurian people’s weapons would be wielded against the Blakists.
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