Task Force Serpent and the Road to Huntress

Task Force Serpent crossed the Deep Periphery to strike Clan Smoke Jaguar where the Clan believed itself secure: Huntress. The multinational expedition carried roughly ten regiments and tens of thousands of personnel along the Exodus Road, operating beyond normal communications and with no practical expectation of reinforcement. This episode follows the planning of Morgan Hasek-Davion, intelligence supplied by Jaguar defector Trent, months of coalition training, and the long approach into Clan space. Morgan was assassinated before reaching the objective, leaving Ariana Winston to command the attack. Serpent captured and devastated key Jaguar military infrastructure, only to face returning frontline forces driven from the Inner Sphere by Operation BULLDOG. The coalition was reduced to less than two regiments before Victor Steiner-Davion’s relief force finally arrived. Casualties approached eighty percent, and both principal commanders died. Serpent succeeded because it understood that the route, fleet, logistics, secrecy, and special operations effort were all parts of the battlefield—not merely transportation to it. Visit ImaginedBattlefield.com for more military and science fiction.