Operation: Broadsword
Operation: Broadsword was an initiative conducted by the Frontier Militia, in the years following the Battle of Demeter. The Operation is the latest in a series of Militia-wide offensive pushes to retake The Frontier from the Interstellar Manufacturing Corporation. Only one operation within the overall Broadsword initiative is currently known - the actions of the 9th Militia Fleet and Special Operation 217. The fleet was sent to investigate Typhon, a mostly uninhabited and (believed) lightly-defended research post.
Special Operation 217
After the retrieval of the Time gauntlet in Operation: Grizzly and the destruction of 29 IMC scientific research facilities on the Frontier,[1] Special Operation 217 was given the green-light by SRS commander Sarah Briggs with the objective of investigating the isolated IMC research world of Typhon. Major Eli Anderson took the lead on the investigation into what the IMC were up to, but he never reported back.
Expecting light defences, Militia forces instead encountered heavy anti-orbital weaponry, suffering major losses, including their flagship MCS James MacAllan. As it turned out, IMC forces were significant on the planet, led at least in part by the contracted mercenary group the Apex Predators. SRS commander Captain Tai Lastimosa was also lost in the initial attack.
Under extraordinary circumstances, the responsibility of Special Operation 217 fell to Rifleman Class-3 Jack Cooper, following the discovery of Major Anderson's body at the ruins of a secret IMC research complex. Through Cooper's efforts, the truth of the IMC's presence on Typhon was revealed: General Marder and his ARES Division uncovered and refurbished an ancient alien superweapon known as the Fold Weapon, and they intended to use the weapon to annihilate Militia planets one by one until they surrender, starting with the Militia headquarters of Harmony.
Once Cooper relayed this new intelligence to Militia command with a commandeered interstellar beacon, the 9th Militia Fleet responded in force, intending to stop the Fold Weapon from firing at all costs. Overall, since their arrival at Typhon, the Militia took heavy losses over the prevailing day or two, but they ultimately triumphed by destroying the Fold Weapon itself, devastating Typhon in the process when the weapon blew up.
The events of Special Operation 217 and the resulting conflict are collectively known as the Battle of Typhon.
References
- ↑ Effect and Cause: BT's dialogue