Lair of Mighty Wyrms

Lair of Mighty Wyrms
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassTatsumaki
In service untilApril/May 3100[1]

History[edit]

The DCS Lair of Mighty Wyrms was a Tatsumaki-class destroyer, commissioned by the DCMS and built and Trialed in secret in the Dieron system. By late 3058 it was stationed in the Luthien system, laired in hiding near the gas-giant Gilgamesh to avoid detection.[2]

Lair of Mighty Wyrms was damaged during Operation BULLDOG, but Clan Nova Cat technicians were able to repair it.[3] By 3067 Lair of Mighty Wyrms was the only Tatsumaki-class ship left in service to the Combine, as her sister ship, the DCS Dragon's Last Tear, had been destroyed by Clan Ghost Bear forces in the Alshain system during the attack that launched the First Dominion/Combine War.[4]

Lair of Mighty Wyrms served as one of two command vessels within Task Force CRONUS, the predominantly Clan naval force responsible for capturing the Titan Yards in 3078 as a part of the allied coalition efforts to liberate Terra from the Word of Blake.[5][6] By 3079, Lair of Mighty Wyrms had been redeployed to the New Samarkand system, protecting the Combine's temporary capital world alongside the Kyushu-class frigate DCS Draconis Rift.[7]

Second Combine-Dominion War[edit]

Lair of Mighty Wyrms was destroyed during the Second Combine-Dominion War. The Draconis Combine had become aware that the planet Rasalhague was only protected by the Nightlord-class battleship CGB Ursa Major, and Coordinator Hohiro Kurita acted on this information by dispatching a large part of the Combine WarShip fleet to destroy the Ursa Major. The first ship to enter the Rasalhague system was the Draconis Rift. Arriving near the fifth planet in the system on the 29th of April 3100 before burning towards Rasalhague's moon Sigurd, Draconis Rift was detected and pursued by Ursa Major. An hour after the pursuit began - the Ursa Major was ambushed by the surprise arrival of Lair of Mighty Wyrms along with the Inazuma-class corvette DCS Winds of Heaven and the Kyushu-class DCS Dieron Star, all of which jumped in directly ahead of Ursa Major.[1]

Ursa Major attempted to retreat back towards Rasalhague to join the Sixth Valkyrie Cluster which had launched from the surface of the planet. Intercepted by Winds of Heaven, Ursa Major exchanged fire for ten minutes with the much lighter Combine WarShip until Winds of Heaven retreated, having suffered almost catastrophic damage from the Ghost Bear battleship. Winds of Heaven had succeeded in delaying Ursa Major long enough for the other three Combine WarShips to catch up and engage her. The resulting battle was savage; Lair of Mighty Wyrms was heavily damaged before Dieron Star was subjected to a brutal broadside that cracked her structure and detonated the ammunition magazines, causing the crew to begin abandoning ship at 1827 hours. However, Ursa Major's killing strike on Dieron Star left it open to heavy fire from Lair of Mighty Wyrms, which succeeded in crippling Ursa Major's drive system. Lair of Mighty Wyrms and Draconis Rift continued to battle Ursa Major as the Ghost Bear battleship span towards Rasalhague, increasingly out of control. At 1843 hours a final strike from Draconis Rift caused Ursa Major to explode, the centrifugal forces involved in her death-spin preventing the battleship from launching escape pods and distributing debris from the explosion across the Rasalhague system.[1]

Dieron Star made a close pass to Rasalhague at 1940 hours before a combination of reactor overloads and outgassing tore her apart; the Ghost Bears surveyed the remains but declared the wreck unsalvageable due to the destruction of her K-F drive and the stress damage caused to her structure. Lair of Mighty Wyrms would escape the battle but ultimately fare little better than Dieron Star; having managed to retreat from the Rasalhague system, Lair of Mighty Wyrms suffered a catastrophic jump drive failure two jumps later in an uninhabited system and was scuttled by her crew to prevent the Rasalhague Dominion from recovering her.[1]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Historical: Wars of the Republic Era, p. 35: "The Fall"
  2. Field Manual: Draconis Combine, p. 15: "Aerospace Assets"
  3. Re: Fate of a Warship (dead link)
  4. Era Report: 3062, p. 25: "The Combine-Dominion War"
  5. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 95: "Classified: Eyes Only - Top Secret"
  6. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 98: "Captain's Log"
  7. Field Report: DCMS, p. 5: "Safeguarding the Wounded Heart"

Bibliography[edit]