Sheratan 3058 Update

World Name: Sheratan

Time to Jump Point: 4 days

Recharging Station: Nadir

Recharge Time: 9 days

ComStar Facility Class: B

Noble Ruler: None

Political Leader: None

A sparsely inhabited, forest-covered world with thick jungles around the equator, Sheratan is one of the most beautiful planets in the Sarna March. During the invasion, it became one of the most bitterly contested.

The Sheratan Knights, a single regiment of warriros utterly dedicated to the Federated Commonwealth, defended Sheratan from both invading forces and internal rebellions. The planet had suffered a protracted terrorist campaign by various groups set up and funded by the Capellan secret police since the Fourth Succession War, and so the Knights had superior training in dealing with guerilla-style warfare. When the Capellan Chancellor ordered his agents on Sheratan into action concurrent with the invasion, bombings and mass shootings became commonplace in Sheratan's few large cities. The Sheratan Knights flushed out and destroyed many of the rebel cells, but the vast forests and dense jungles gave the surviving Liao guerillas plenty of places to hide.

The arrival of the Fist of Mokal, mercenaries in the employ of the Free Worlds League, turned the tables in the Liaoists' favor. Seeing that Sheratan was lightly defended, the mercenaries landed in the capital and proclaimed the world a Capellan possession. The enranged Knights converged on the capital and engaged the Fist in a hit-and-run battle, downing several mercenary 'Mechs. Stunned by the attack, Major William Jeffreys ordered two of his mercenary companies to chase the Sheratan Knights into the forests and hunt them down while the third company held the fort in the capital.

With the aid of the Liao guerillas, the Fist MechWarriors found and destroyed a battalion of the Knights. The remaining Knights set the forest ablaze, trapping the mercenaries in a burning hell. Major Jeffreys ordered his unit to charge through the flames, but escaped the blaze with only a company left intact. The inferno utterly destroyed the remaining Liao forces. The mercenary company in the capital retaliated by slaying thousands of civilians. When word of the brutal killings got out, the Fist of Mokal's contract was declared null and void and the unit itself was proscribed.

Before departing from Sheratan, the Fist started some fires of its own. Soon, vast tracts of land across the planet were burning out of control. Unable to cope with the crisis, the planetary government collapsed. Various minor nobles and other charismatic leaders rose up to fill the power vacuum, and numerous petty kings are constantly contending with each other for control of the world. Meanwhile, the fires continue to burn, kept at bay only near the cities. Most of the resources that could be used to fight the fires are instead spent on small-scale warefare between the various factions. Smoke from the huge blazes makes the days hazy and the nights unnaturally dark.

The Sheratan Knights remain the only potential stabilizing force on the planet, but they control only the shattered capital city of Gellen's Heights and several square kilometers of surrounding territory. Rebel groups funded by the Capellan Confederation still operate on Sheratan, but the departure of the Marik mercenaries has greatly diminished their power.

Defending Forces

Unit Name                       Expernce    Homeworld     Faction 
Sheratan Knights                Veteran     Sheratan      FedCom
  (CO: Lieutenant Colonel Toby Knight)
  (2 battalions conventional)