Battletech What if the Clans Worked Together at Tukayyid??

[The Whispering Monk]

Let's say that Ulrik has done something to get the Crusaders and Wardens all pointed in the same direction under his guidance if not outright leadership. The Clans actually coordinate their offensive against Comstar. Simultaneous landings deny Comstar's ability to move forces between fronts.

Comstar still springs traps, the clans get suckered a bit, but they've listened to Ulrik and Clan Leaders expect a longer fight and prepare for it.

How bad and ugly does this fight really get? How well do the Clans do at Tukayyid this time?

<Hat tip @Cherico for inspiring the other side of the coin>

 

[Bear Ribs]

Ulric has a lengthy history of using un-clanly methods to win, such as turning Mercer Valley into a minefield and suckering the Lyrans into it, or deploying Elementals to specifically headhunt officers. If he can get all the clans working using those tactics it's likely to go very poorly for ComStar.

The aftermath will be a bit worse depending on how things go.

Option 1: ComStar isn't going to hand over Terra to the clans just because they lost a bet. This I think, is more likely. The clans will be incandescent at this betrayal. Since ComStar is running administration on a great many Clan-captured worlds (The clans found it convenient to let them and did a lot of diplomacy there, which ComStar used as an opportunity to spy on them), the huge mass of Adepts in those worlds are all going on the chopping block, and the clans will almost certainly kill all their offspring as well given that's their way. ComStar runs all the communications and most of the news for the Successor Houses so they can run a massive propaganda campaign and use this to drum up support. The clans, meanwhile, are going to take off the kid gloves and fight to the knife rather than trial for things. The clans back at the Pentagon worlds are likely to get involved so Star Adder, Burrock, Coyote, etc. are all going to be sending their toumans too.

The net result will be a lot more fighting with a lot less rules. The death toll will be devastating on both sides but the Clans are the only ones with Warships and if they aren't bidding those away, they're going to be interdicting a lot of IS DropShips before they ever land to disgorge 'mechs, and wiping out a lot of bases from orbit. As the clans cut their bloody swatch towards Terra, ComStar is going to have to pull their own WarShip fleet out in a last-ditch defense which is absolutely going to raise the hackles on all the Great Houses, and also since those are going to be mostly green crews the Clans are going to beat them down messily.

Option 2: ComStar honors the trial and hands over Earth. This would actually be the best outcome, so ComStar probably won't do it. Clan Wolf probably becomes ilClan due to Ulric being the one who pulled off the win. This lasts all of a week before the other clans start trials of possession to take the title away because the clans really didn't have much of a plan beyond "Capture Terra" and none of the clans are too awful likely to decide they should just stay subordinate to Wolf. They probably make a token attempt at rebuilding the Star League but I have strong doubts the Great Houses will go for it. Due to infighting over who gets to be ilClan the clans won't do a lot of invading though there will be plenty of raids on both sides.

The clans have a fair chance of leaving ComStar in charge of the HPG network, after all ComStar's shown itself honorable and all. I actually see a fair chance of the Blakists winding up integrating into the clans (after all, they both have the goal of recreating the Star League) and ultimately altering each other. This probably derails the Jihad and from there, who knows?

 

[S'task]

Option 2: ComStar honors the trial and hands over Earth. This would actually be the best outcome, so ComStar probably won't do it. Clan Wolf probably becomes ilClan due to Ulric being the one who pulled off the win. This lasts all of a week before the other clans start trials of possession to take the title away because the clans really didn't have much of a plan beyond "Capture Terra" and none of the clans are too awful likely to decide they should just stay subordinate to Wolf. They probably make a token attempt at rebuilding the Star League but I have strong doubts the Great Houses will go for it. Due to infighting over who gets to be ilClan the clans won't do a lot of invading though there will be plenty of raids on both sides.

Actually, Ulric did have a plan for this. If he and Clan Wolf managed to become ilClan the first order they would give is to pack up and leave the Inner Sphere returning the worlds they conquered to the respective Great Houses. The Clans would still hold Terra and be "in contact" with the Inner Sphere, but this win would prove that the Warden philosophy and methods are correct, thus the Clans are not meant to be conquerors but protectors and so should be focused on that and stay in their own lane. ComStar would become subservient to Clan Wolf but likely left to their own devices...

Well, for a short time, once Ulric finds out about the Blakist revolt that would be happening (and likely more widespread in this) he would have the Clans hunting down the Blakists across the Inner Sphere, seeing them (accurately) as a threat to humanity and the Inner Sphere (this will be especially true once Ulric gets access to the ComStar achives on Terra which will show that the Blakists were actively making things worse for the Great Houses, keeping them at war with each other and even staging raids under false colors). Some of the Great Houses would probably cooperate (FedCom and Dracs, though there'd be a LOT of tension with the Dracs) and the Capellan Confederation likely would begrudgingly do so due to their still being in a rebuilding and recovery phase. However the Free Worlds League would not, due to the the Captain-General being a literal Blakists stooge. This would then put the Clans in an awkward position. Hunting down Blakists in areas where the Great House has let them in to do so and is cooperating is one thing, but if the Great House is refusing it basically would require them to wage war against the Great House... which is a large scale operation the Clans would likely not be quite ready for.

Thus you likely see them officially allow Word of Blake in the FWL like in the original timeline; however, there would be an ongoing very active shadow war between the Clans and Word of Blake here.

That said, I think your scenario 1 is more likely. Focht and his ComGuards at Tukkyid would likely honor the agreement, but Waterly absolutely would not and would activate every trick in the book she had to resist the Clans.

That said, I'm honestly not sure the Great Houses would support or be swayed by Waterly's propaganda about atrocities against ComStar. Remember, as the battle of Tukkyyid was unfolding, Waterly was initiating Operation Scorpion with the explicit purpose of decapitating the Great Houses. While this was foiled, none of the Great Houses would be kindly disposed towards ComStar: ComStar made its bed and can now lie in it. They might even be willing to allow the Clans Safecon through their space to attack Earth. Hanse most likely would, given his long, LONG feud with ComStar. It may well be that the Great Houses see the Clans fixating on ComStar and Terra as something ComStar brought on themselves and so wash their hands of it, nationalizing all ComStar facilities in their territory and then telling ComStar to fuck off.