Unlike the First Succession War, the path to the Second wasn’t clearly defined.
Instead, a series of localized brush-fire wars escalated, and eventually led to a resumption of general warfare. Even in the quietest inter-war years, espionage and special-forces actions were the order of the day, as each Successor State sought to ascertain the status of their rivals and prevent any rebuilding before the inevitable resumption of hostilities.
Having suffered years of external attack—and, in many cases, damage at the hands of their own counter-intelligence operations—none of the Successor States’
intelligence agencies operated at peak efficiency, and high-profile successes were few and far between. One of the most notable occurred within the Lyran Commonwealth, when the ISF succeeded in placing agents within the Duke of Tamar’s staff. This gave them access to data regarding the military and economic situation within the Tamar Pact and across the Commonwealth. The leaks only ended when another agent, a member of the Free Worlds League’s SAFE, killed the ISF operatives, mistakenly believing they were LIC Molehunters.
Better known, though less damaging overall, were the Draconis Combine’s so-called “Chain Gang” missions of 2825 and 2826 that targeted both the Lyran Commonwealth and Federated Suns. Conceiving of a way to utilize undesirable elements of his population—convicts, political prisoners and other outcasts—
Coordinator Jinjiro Kurita ordered them to be given rudimentary training and equipment and then unleashed at targets in the neighboring realms. Most
“Chain Gang” units were lance- or company-sized, included members jacked up on combat drugs, and inflicted minimal damage. Others were larger and more effective, and required the redeployment of LCAF line units to counter them. In the eyes of the Coordinator and the DCMS, the chaos the attacks sowed more than made up for their limited military value. Lyran counter-blows soon followed, with LCAF troops hitting back at several targets within the Combine with surprisingly effective assault operations. Further Combine actions were expected, but fate intervened to distract the Kurita forces.
The Minnesota Tribe
On 9 October 2825, the world of Svelvik on the Periphery border of the Draconis Combine came under attack by a regimental-sized unit. The attackers were skilled and well-versed in Star League tactics, their ’Mechs apparently painted in Regular Army colors and equipped with technologies already becoming scarce in the Inner Sphere. No identifiers linked them to Kerensky’s forces—though the Coordinator believed they were precursors of Kerensky’s return. The units bore an insignia that corresponded to the Terran district of Minnesota in North America, leading to the mysterious combatants being dubbed the “Minnesota Tribe.” These mysterious assailants took supplies and left, departing into uncharted systems along with a fleet of cargo vessels and military craft.
The Tribe disappeared for months, but then re-appeared on 17 December 2825 to strike at Trondheim, smashing the Twentieth Rasalhague Regulars and again taking what they wanted before disappearing into the void between stars.
The Tribe refused any attempt at contact, going so far as to commit suicide rather than be captured. This security procedure further inflamed fears that the Tribe were vanguards of Kerensky’s returning army, prompting the Coordinator to flood the region with troops to deal with the incursions. A third attack by the Tribe against on Jarrett on 19 August 2826 further demonstrated the skill of the invaders and the weakness of the Combine position. The raiders’ aerospace forces handily defeated FORLORN HOPE
The flight of the SLDF to distant stars was intended to keep them aloof from the conflicts shortly to wrack the Inner Sphere, preserving the soul of the Star League as a beacon in the dark-ness. But no sooner had the Exodus Fleet departed then cracks began to appear in the unified front of the troops, leading to the Prinz Eugen revolt and its bloody suppression. In the wake of that disaster, Kerensky issued General Order 137, better known as the Hidden Hope Doctrine, enshrining the need for the SLDF’s self-imposed Exile.
Return to the Inner Sphere is impossible for us. Our heritage and our convictions are different from those we left behind. The greed of the five Great Houses and the Council Lords is a disease that can only be burned away by the passing of decades, even centuries. And though the fighting may seem to slow, or even cease, it will erupt again as long as there are powerful men to covet one another’s wealth. We shall live apart, conserving all the good of the Star League and ridding ourselves of the bad, so that when we return — and return we shall — our shining moral character will be as much our shield as our BattleMechs and fighters.
—General Order 137
Even to this day, many of the Clans hold the Hidden Hope Doctrine in near reverence, it having taken literal form in the Second Exodus of Nicholas Kerensky and his followers to Strana Mechty in the wake of his father’s death. The Exodus Civil War (2801-2822) ran parallel to the latter years of the First Succession War, and mirrored its ferocity and devastation. While the factions of the Inner Sphere pulled back from the brink of total annihila-tion, much of the SLDF in the Pentagon did not. In many regards, the Pentagon wars were even more brutal than the Succession War, with the use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons compounded by ethnic cleansing and other war crimes. In the Inner Sphere, the Great Houses were bloodied by the conflict but remained in control of functioning states. In Clan space, little remained of society. The survivors were malleable clay in Nicholas Kerensky’s hands when he launched Operation KLONDIKE in 2821, unleashing the Clans he had forged from the troops who had accompanied him on the Second Exodus.
The annihilation of Clan Wolverine, beginning in 2823, was the first major political event within the Clans and the only one—until late in the thirtieth century, at least—to possibly have had any impact on the Inner Sphere. The Minnesota Tribe incident is popularly linked to survivors of the Wolverines, though even today there is no definitive connection. Even more signifi-cantly to the Clans were the events of 2834. A dispute with Clan Widowmaker evolved into a Trial of Refusal, and while refereeing the contest, ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky was killed. The Clans were now deprived of Kerensky’s vision and authority, metamorphos-ing over the next “golden century” into the factionalized, milita-ristic society that returned to the Inner Sphere in 3050.
—A Pocket History of the Inner Sphere, Terra Press, 3122
127
THE WINdS OF WARGetting Your Revenge in First
Though they kept a close eye on the Dragon, House Davion’s main focus in the inter-war years was their other neighbor, the Capellan Confederation. Paul Davion did not want to rush into a new war, but knew that delivering a decisive blow to House Liao would be essential if the AFFS hoped to then counter the Combine threat. He planned a major assault against Liao—Operation DAO—
designed to secure the long-contested Chesterton worlds. He knew that Ilsa Liao would seek to recover the strategic planets, whose absence from the Confederation remained a stain on Capellan honor, and planned to blunt her response.
The Chancellor struck first, beginning by launching a series of diversionary attacks along the border to distract the AFFS and to draw troops away from the real target. The CCAF campaign to crush the Demeter-Chesterton salient began in May 2828; never one to watch from the rear, Ilsa took direct command of the assault on Orbisonia, leading the Red Lancers and Prefectorate Guard to pin several Davion units in place. Unfortunately for the Chancellor, her hard-won gains on the world soon turned to ashes—Orbisonia had been selected as a staging point for AFFS forces, and her assault ran headlong into the AFFS’ planned counter-blow. On 24 June, the Chancellor perished leading a rearguard action and preventing a Capellan rout. Laurelli Liao, commanding the assault on Kathil, became the new Chancellor and immediately called off the CCAF assaults. Her mother’s gambit had failed, and Laurelli needed time to reflect on the disaster and make new plans to meet the Davion and Marik juggernauts. Fortunately for the new Chancellor, the Free Worlds League was content with staging only the occasional raid, though Paul Davion followed up his victories in Operation DAO with two more campaigns: Operation SUN, directed at Tikonov; and Operation RAIN, against the Valexa-Axton region.
Assuming the Captain-Generalcy upon the death of his father, Thaddeus, in 2821, Charles Marik sought to remain aloof from the new conflicts emerging across the Inner Sphere. But when prisoner exchange talks with the Lyran Commonwealth faltered (thanks to ComStar interference), House Marik’s return to the conflict became inevitable. His intelligence service, SAFE, remained in shambles, and failed to provide notice of the Confederation’s weakness during the abortive attack against House Davion. When the situation and SAFE’s failure became known to the Captain-General, he began casting around for new sources of information. One immediately landed in his lap: his sister Jeanette was a ComStar adept and in June 2830 agreed to provide Charles with intelligence information. This was the final move in Conrad Toyama’s plan to ignite a new war, effectively drawing House Marik back into the conflict and building the Free Worlds’ dependence on ComStar’s intelligence. The resulting Second Succession War would be devastating for the Inner Sphere—and tragic for House Marik.
the DCMS, pinning them in place and interdicting transport links long enough for the Tribe to scour local storehouses and move on.
The final encounter with the Tribe took place on 9 March 2827 when they again defeated defending forces and raided storage facilities on Richmond. Additionally, the Tribe liberated secret prisons and slave camps established by the Combine, spiriting their occupants away to an unknown destination. This was the last time the tribe was sighted in the Inner Sphere, though ComStar survey vessels followed the unit’s trail through the Periphery until all traces disappeared near Valentina.
Officially.
Unconfirmed rumors during the Jihad claimed that ComStar had in fact made contact with the invaders and offered them sanctuary, with the Minnesota Tribe becoming the core of what would later become the Word of Blake. These rumors also identified the raiders as remnants of Clan Wolverine, fleeing from the oppression of Nicholas Kerensky’s new regime. The claims fit neatly with facts known from the Clan Homeworlds about the Not-Named Clan and proved to be a political bombshell, spurring the Ghost Bears into aiding the Allied campaign against the Word of Blake.
With the benefit of years of hindsight, and without any further evidence to support that claim, the fit may have been too neat, and too accurately punched the Clans’ buttons to move them to action.
Whether there is any truth to the rumors, or whether they are a fabrication of Anastasius Focht, Chandrasekhar Kurita or Devlin Stone may never be known. Even now, more than three hundred years later, the Minnesota Tribe remain an enigma that grips the populace of the Inner Sphere.
Chahar Profit
The LCAF reprisals after the “Chain Gang” missions drew only limited response from the DCMS, but a further incident in late 2826 threatened to fully ignite tensions. On 30 December, a commercial JumpShip, the Chahar Profit, made an erroneous jump to Darius and was captured by the DCMS. The event is often cited as a mis-jump, but conflicting reports attribute it to everything from computer error that transposed jump coordinates to an attempt to rescue a Lyran intelligence cell. The LCAF immediately began planning the vessel’s recovery, leading to a lightning raid by the hastily-reformed Stealths in late February 2827 to recover the vessel, its crew and cargo. The assault was a stunning success, with only two ’Mechs lost (and their pilots recovered). Though still distracted by the Minnesota Tribe, the successful Lyran operation challenged the honor of the DCMS. With a subsequent series of reprisals finding little success, the Combine began plotting a more serious assault on their Lyran foes. To the LCAF, the raid showed the value of maneuverable forces and reinforced the idea that the LCAF could hold their own against the militaristic Combine.
The Davion front had no incident comparable to the Chahar Profit affair to crystallize House Kurita’s attention, but the Combine’s plan for a resumption of hostilities did include the Federated Suns.
Jinjiro’s focus on the Lyran front in the late 2820s nonetheless the Davions a chance to prepare for the inevitable return to war. When it did occur in 2830, the result was not as the Combine expected.