Herald of War
As the impending wedding of Hanse Davion and Melissa Steiner approached the HPG relays were clogged with so much tabloid fanfare and gossip surrounding the wedding and attendees that news stories and rumors of small units dropping onto dozens of Capellan worlds, just days prior to the wedding reception where Hanse Davion is famously quoted as saying “My dear… I give you the Capellan Confederation,” were lost in the noise or delayed until after the war was already underway.
These early assaults were a tightly orchestrated affair with lance and company sized elements deployed to take out key infrastructure and secure drop points. Early reports from local garrison units were not received by the greater Capellan Confederation Armed Forces (CCAF) until days after the assault had begun and often referred to little known mercenary units and rebels with names like “The White Knights of St. Andre,” “Aces and Eights” or “Screaming Eagles”, names chosen to represent fictitious insurgent groups on the planets being assaulted or representing lances of previously unheard of mercenary units. By the time reports began to filter in that much larger elements representing the Armed Forces of the Federated Suns (AFFS) had landed planet side the CCAF garrisons had mostly been crushed by AFFS forces outnumbering them four to one. The fourth succession war had begun.