Battle of Turaxis II

The Battle of Turaxis II was a lengthy campaign fought on Turaxis II between the Terran Confederacy and the Kel-Morian Combine during the Guild Wars.

Kel-Morian Blockade
The Terran Confederacy had a hard time supplying troops to Turaxis II due to Kelanis Shipping Guild ships, which were armed by the Morian Mining Guild. While the Kel-Morian ship crews had little training, they were still unpredictable and dangerous.

Confederate convoys including merchant vessels frequently approached the planet at a distance to avoid ambushes. The merchant captains often had to be cajoled by the lead Confederate officer.

The Break-Out
In 2488 the Kel-Morian Combine launched a massive assault against the Confederate bases of Fort Howe. They fought their way through Hobber's Gap and attacked the area between Burr's Crossing and Firebase Zulu.

Battle of Firebase Zulu
A convoy of trucks carrying approximately three hundred newly-graduated Confederate marines headed south from Boro Airbase to Firebase Zulu. They were stopped by a Hellhound attack, forcing the marines out of the trucks. Private Jim Raynor took a leadership role.

A Kel-Morian siege tank, six APCs and a number of troops attacked the northern part of Zulu, where they had to face bunkers. The APCs were unscreened by troops.

Raynor's scouts discovered a side path to the hill Zulu was on. A sniper and a backup soldier took control of a farmhouse and began attacking the Kel-Morian infantry, while Raynor and other troops stole some of the APCs, turning their gauss cannons on the others. The Battle of Firebase Zulu ended in Confederate victory.

Battle of Fort Howe
The Battle of Fort Howe was a multiple-faction battle fought during the aftermath of the Break-Out.

Prelude
The Kel-Morians hadn't been able to overrun Fort Howe, home of the "Thundering Third" troop formation. The Third forced the Kel-Morians back into the disputed zone. However, this left the fort nearly empty of men.

Two separate "factions" attempted to take advantage of the situation.

The Confederate officer in charge of Fort Howe, Lieutenant Colonel Javier Vanderspool, was corrupt. He hatched a deal with a Kel-Morian officer, Overseer Aaron Pax, to steal two trucks full of valuable Confederate military materiel, including 8 million credits' worth of jammers, and split the proceeds. Pax would direct a small attack force against Fort Howe. Vanderspool's men would load the trucks and civilian drivers would take the loot away. The battle would be choreographed to allow the truckers to escape. Vanderspool would blame the loss of the loot on the Kel-Morian attack, thus disguising its true destination.

Another Kel-Morian commander, Overseer Scaggs, saw an opportunity with Fort Howe being nearly empty. He ordered Foreman Oleg Benson to hide with a number of rippers at the Raffin Brothers mine just a few miles east of Fort Howe, intending a surprise attack. They would seize a landing zone, enabling Scaggs' troops to arrive in transports.

The Attack
The two separate Kel-Morian assaults began nearly simultaneously. After the trucks had been partially loaded, Lt. Col. Vanderspool "announced" the attack.

Sergeant Tychus Findlay had just taken command of a squad consisting of Lance Corporal Jim Raynor and Privates Hank Harnack, Ryk Kydd, Connor Ward and Max Zander. When they heard the announcement, Raynor suggested the Kel-Morians would logically head to the armory, and the squad quickly threw on chest protectors as their only armor and rushed there. On the way, they met Foreman Benson's rippers, who were trying to establish a landing zone. A short firefight erupted, in which Sergeant Findlay rifle-butted Benson to death. Scaggs' plans were further ruined when Confederate Avengers showed up and destroyed his transports.

Findlay's squad hadn't finished their "contribution" to the battle. Noting the theft of materiel, the squad captured the two trucks. However, Findlay decided to steal the loot, and he and Raynor drove the trucks out to the damaged town of Whitford.

Aftermath
Vanderspool came to believe that Scaggs' scheme had "piggybacked" on that of Pax, but blamed that assault on another overseer, Hanz Brucker. He was also suspicious of Findlay, who had returned with one truck (the one with less valuable materiel).

For his "victory", Vanderspool was promoted to full colonel. As commander of the 321st Colonial Rangers Battalion, he created a Special Tactics and Missions Platoon and made Findlay its second-in-command. He also implanted Petty Officer Lisa Cassidy, a combat medic, as his spy within the platoon.

Meanwhile, Overseer Aaron Pax refused to believe Vanderspool's story of the stolen truck, and was furious over the "betrayal".

Battle of KIC-36
In the Battle of KIC-36, the Special Tactics and Missions Platoon "Heaven's Devils" rescued hundreds of Confederate prisoners from Kel-Morian Internment Camp-36.

Background
KIC-36 was a Kel-Morian Combine internment camp operated by Overseer Hanz Brucker, who also commanded a large number of troops. Brucker kept his P.O.W.s weak and starving but alive, in order to prevent the Confederacy from killing the Kel-Morian prisoners it held.

Captain Claire Hobarth, a Confederate dropship pilot, was captured and held there. In 2488 she escaped along with two other prisoners after three months of captivity, but was the only one of the three escapees to make it back to Confederate territory alive. Hobarth was left severely weakened by her ordeal.

The Confederate commander of Fort Howe, Colonel Javier Vanderspool, had suffered a financial setback in the Battle of Fort Howe and blamed Hanz Brucker for it. He created a Special Tactics and Mission Platoon, which relied on air-droppable Thunderstrike armor, as a special elite force within his 321st Colonial Rangers Battalion.

Prelude
The Special Tactics and Missions Platoon trained in their new, dangerous armor at "Camp Crash" under the direction of Sergeant Tychus Findlay (due to the transfer of their previous commanding officer, Lt. Marcus Quigby) after being given a briefing with Captain Hobarth's gathered intelligence.

As the plan came closer to fruition, two new factors emerged:

Colonel Vanderspool summoned Petty Officer Lisa Cassidy to his presence and ordered her to deliver a message to Overseer Hanz Brucker and then murder him. Vanderspool wanted revenge for the massive attack on Fort Howe.

Lance Corporal Jim Raynor, feeling guilty over his previous crimes, decided to make amends. He convinced Findlay to in turn convince Vanderspool to allow him to participate in a dangerous scheme. Raynor had noticed Hobarth's slow movements and feared the P.O.W.s would similarly be weak. It was necessary to let them know of the impending rescue so they could be organized for it. Raynor disguised himself as Ras Hagar, a captured Kel-Morian Hellhound pilot, and a day before the assault was dropped near the camp. Upon arrival, he met with Overseer Hanz Brucker himself at dinner, where several starving P.O.W.s were forced to play music and watch Brucker consume enormous quantities of food. Brucker realized that Raynor wasn't who he said he was and left the room to collect security; as he did so, Raynor warned the P.O.W.s. Kel-Morian forces arrested Raynor.

Raynor was introduced to Cole Hickson, a previously-captured Confederate military prisoner, and was tortured about the impending attack. Raynor only revealed that it would be within two weeks, lulling the Kel-Morians into a false sense of security. They also tortured him in order to collect information about neural resocialization, but Raynor didn't know what they were talking about. He, Hickson and one other prisoner were publicly tied to stakes in order to intimidate the other P.O.W.s on the day of the attack.

The platoon would be dropped on the three hills protecting the internment camp, then capture a landing zone, enabling more dropships to arrive and rescue the P.O.W.s.

The Battle
The Confederate attack initially went well. Findlay led troops into the camp, rescuing Raynor and Hickson. Cassidy injected Raynor with stimulants.

However, Kel-Morian Hellhounds arrived, chasing off the additional dropships. Raynor suggested stealing Kel-Morian ground vehicles from their factory. There they stopped Brucker's saber command car. Brucker was wounded, and as Cassidy pretended to heal him, she injected him with a drug which would simulate a heart attack and then delivered Vanderspool's message. Brucker died.

The Great Escape
The Confederates created a convoy of trucks, buses, APCs and the saber command car, loaded with former P.O.W.s. Raynor led the convoy from a vulture, heading into the disputed zone. They hoped to be rescued by the Confederate military there.

The Snakehead Kommando, a Kel-Morian military unit led by Foreman Kar Ottmar, was warned of the destruction of the internment camp and death of Brucker.

Battles of Polk's Pride
The Confederacy made three attempts to take northern Polk's Pride. They succeeded on the third attempt.

Battle of Korsy
Colonel Javier Vanderspool attempted to steal a train full of ardeon crystals from the Kel-Morian Combine.