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A timeline of the renowned Far Reach Legion.
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Hello, and welcome to the latest Legion Bulletin.
 

Last week, I promised you a unit history, and that’s what we’ve got. This is for the Sixth Legion, and they’ve been busy this past three thousand years! It also gives you a flavor of the events that have taken place between the end of the Human Legion/ Sleeping Legion series and my forthcoming weekly serial: Chimera Company.

Talking of Chimera Company, if you’ve ticked the box in your Legionary subscription preferences to say you’re interested in being part of the street team, I’ll be getting in contact with you next week about the season 1 preview rollout and doing the first cover reveal. And that cover… wow! Can’t wait to share that.

And talking of sharing, I wanted to mention a free book promotion I’m a part of. Michael G. Thomas, Kevin McLaughlin and plenty more science fiction and fantasy authors are giving away free downloads because they hope you’ll like what you read and come back for more. Why not give it a go?  http://sffbookbonanza.com/free-books-nov-2018/
 

 

TIMELINE OF THE SIXTH LEGION

Ferrata Fidelis Constans
“Iron clad, loyal, and constant.”
= Highly Confidential =

 
Home base: Wandrine-Callos, Tej Sector.
Battle Honors:  Tej Sector, Zhoogene, Taegi-28, Core-7.
Battle Cry: “Hold the Line!”
Current Status (FL-3030): Strategic Legion Reserve for Tej Sector, Theta-Zanovis Sector and Ishgen Spine.
 
Timeline of key events:
Note: Dates are given in standard Far Reach calendar, commencing (Year FL 0) with Far Reach Landing. In the old Orion Era Calendar, FL 0 corresponds to 2745.
 
FL 71: Sixth Legion is established on Wandrine-Callos/ Tej Sector during the Nine Systems War, in which rebellious political factions ally with existing nearby civilizations to crush Far Reach, attempting to reduce it to Nine System colony status. In its motto, the Sixth is awarded the name ‘Ferranta’: ‘iron clad’ in Latin, a part of the name awarded to a Sixth Legion raised 2868 years earlier by a famous Orion Era general named Julius Caesar. At a time when the continued existence was in doubt of the Far Reach Federation and its population of Amilxi exiles, many of the new legions raised in this period stress their links to renowned military forebears of Earth and other Orion Spur worlds.
 
FL 262: Supports Legion Reserve Fleet in the Tej Sector Counterattack that defeats the self-styled ‘Supremity’. In reality, the Supremity is a bandit warlord commanding a vast armada of armed vessels: the dregs of a hundred civilizations that has drifted in from the Interspiral Wastes intent on despoilment, plunder and murder. A motley pirate raid it might be, but both the Fourth Legion and the Militia system defense forces in 21 planetary systems are routed before the counterattack, and Legion losses are heavy. After the joint operation, the Admiral of the Reserve Fleet, the most renowned organization in the Legion, shares blood with the Sixth Legion’s General Weygrunth, and conveys on her command the right to use the Reserve Fleet’s famous battle cry: ‘Hold the Line!’
 
FL 291: The Relief of Zhoogene. In FL 288 the Multiplicity Alliance was facing invasion and assimilation by the supremely powerful Muryani Expansion. Despite the lack of a formal military treaty with the Multiplicity Alliance, which at the time constituted 52 systems, the Sixth Legion feels honor bound to come to the aid of the Zhoogenes, having conducted a cultural and military exchange program over the previous decades. After seeking and winning approval from Federation President Weygrunth, herself a former general of the Ironclads, the Sixth attempts to break the Siege of Zhoogene. They fail, being repulsed with catastrophic losses. But the Muryani besiegers themselves are severely weakened, and within a year, Alliance forces sweep away the siege and other invasion forces, resulting in a humiliating peace settlement imposed on the Muryani, who have hitherto appeared invincible. The Zhoogene are so impressed by the loyal support of the Ironclads in a conflict that wasn’t theirs that they soon persuade the Multiplicity Alliance to join the Federation. In acknowledgement of the Sixth’s action around Zhoogene, the third, and so far final, segment of their motto is added: fidelis or loyal.
 
FL 291-296: First Reconstitution. The Ironclad’s responsibilities are temporarily handed over to the First and Third Legions while the shattered Sixth is reformed.
 
FL 450: Operation Orion Rearguard. The Sixth Legion and Third Fleet combine to provide military support to Operation Orion: a project to re-establish communications with Earth and the Orion Spur by establishing a corridor of colonies and trading posts across the 12,000 light years from Federation space in the Perseus Arm. Initially penetrating nearly 600 light years with relative success, Operation Orion turns into a disaster when it awakens a Gorgonthola. After a fighting retreat over 257 light years, the Sixth Legion makes a rearguard stand at Taegi-28, determined that the Gorgonthola will not follow the fleeing colonists back to Federation space. Only one ship, FRS Wavefront, survives the action, filled with wounded, civilians, and prisoners captured from the Gorgonthola’s serf armies. Only 47 legionaries survive the expedition. In recognition of the Sixth’s steadfast action, another portion of the ancient Roman Legion’s name are applied to the Legion, even though it has ceased to exist as a functioning unit. Henceforth, it is to be known as Ferranta Constans: ‘Ironclad and constant’.
 
FL 451-469: Second Reconstitution. The Sixth is reformed. The renown of its action at Taegi-28 means that only a small fraction of the multitude who volunteer can be enlisted.
 
FL 903: The Razing of Core-7. For the Federation, the war against the Grunvalt Gestalt that begins FL 887 goes from bad to disastrous, and then to existential crisis in FL 901 with the Siege of Wutan-Scala-7, the first capital of the Federation. Employing the technique of ‘vacuum replenishment’ for the first time and to devastating effect, the Ironclads arrive without warning deep inside enemy territory at the principle Gestalt hub-world of Core-7. Here they annihilate all defenses within hours and force the Gestalt to surrender unconditionally. In a controversial decision that to this day inspires mobs of chanting protesters to denounce the Sixth Legion of war crimes, the Ironclad’s General Soleb deploys fusion munitions against the underground Gestalt AI spines, reducing Grunvalters to the semi-sentient drones they are today. General Soleb bullishly justifies his action, arguing that since forming the Gestalt means the Grunvalters have effectively cut out their emotions, they have rendered themselves incapable of any sense of honor, meaning any treaty with them would be meaningless. Unaware that while the Sixth was moving on Core-7, the Grunvalters have destroyed all life on the Federation’s capital world, Soleb reasons that the only way to keep the Federation safe in the long term is to render the Gestalt permanently harmless. At the time, his decision is widely backed by Federation citizens still reeling from the destruction of Wutan-Scala-7. Many see it as justified revenge. Within a decade, however, the public mood is soured by the Legion’s political opponents. General Soleb himself is ambushed by a group of political terrorists, while on vacation with his family, and murdered in FL 926.
 
FL 3001-3004. The Ironclads crush the ‘Sequined Flower Rebellion’ on the Muryani border. The causes of the rebellion are still highly classified.
 
FL 3025-present day. An important archaeological find on the hitherto obscure planet of Rho-Torkis leads to a flurry of archaeological activity throughout the Tej Sector. The digs, the site security and the analysis of the finds are all conducted through the Sixth Legion. The exact nature of what has been uncovered remains highly classified. However, it has been widely reported that many of the dig site locations coincide with earlier archaeological and other evidence of a war that took place in the sector some centuries before the arrival of the Exiles in Fl 0.
 
Today, the renowned Sixth Legion approaches its termillennial celebration: 3,000 years of proud service to the Far Reach Federation. Whatever threats the Federation will face over the next three millennia, we can be sure the Sixth will be there to hold the line, forever iron clad, loyal and constant.
 
 
 

That’s it for this issue of the Legion Bulletin. I've removed the links I used to add here for the starter library, but you can access them all online in one place here. Thank you for your support.

Enjoy your adventure,

Tim.
This is Legion Bulletin #50, available exclusively to enlisted Legionaries. 
Legionaries can access past issues of the Legion Bulletin (which include Chimera Company prequels, wallpaper and other exclusive stories) by following this link: https://humanlegion.com/bulletin/
Copyright © 2018 Human Legion Publications, All rights reserved.


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