George Mercer
Sarna News
George Mercer | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Died | 3075 |
| Affiliation | Clan Steel Viper |
| Profile | |
| Profession | saKhan |
George Mercer was the last saKhan from Clan Steel Viper in 3075.[1]
Contents
History[edit]
He had been Galaxy Commander of Chi Galaxy between 3061 - 3067[2][3]
Following the Grand Council held on 29 July 3075 where the Steel Vipers were declared the subjects of a Trial of Annihilation,[4] and the other Clans spent two months gathering forces before electing Khan Hannibal Banacek to the position of ilKhan, a multi-Clan fleet arrived in the Circe system on the 30th of October and, after a bargaining process that saw the Cloud Cobras gain the honor of leading the attack, which they began by driving two naval stars directly at the planetary SDS network. The Cloud Cobras lost four WarShips in the assault - the Aegis-class heavy cruiser CCS Consequence, the Vincent Mark 42-class corvettes CCS Hertzog's Staff, the Fredasa-class corvette CCS Perdition's Flame and the Potemkin-class cruiser CCS True Sight - but succeeded in creating a gap in the network, allowing the landing operation to begin. As the Steel Vipers launched a flanking attack the Goliath Scorpions blocked the Viper forces, and the greater part of two hundred DropShips dropped to the surface of Circe.[1]
George Mercer prepared the planet's defenses.
The initial landing was bloody for the Blood Spirits, who lost nearly half their forces on the initial approach when a number of ground batteries that hadn't been identified earlier ripped into their approach corridor. The Blood Spirits silenced one battery by dropping Alpha Galaxy directly onto the shallow hill it was located, where they were quickly joined by the Cloud Cobra Delta Galaxy. From this inauspicious beginning the combined Blood Spirit and Cloud Cobra forces moved north and captured the enclaves at Ides, Oberon and Wales before being slowed by a Circian storm. The Steel Vipers used the storm as cover, moving their Beta Galaxy into position to attack the Blood Spirit forces; Beta Galaxy broke the Blood Spirit Tau Galaxy before the arrival of several Cloud Cobra aerospace squadrons from Delta Galaxy blunted the Steel Viper attack.[1]
The main Steel Viper enclave on Circe was Tash, which the forces from Clans Goliath Scorpion and Stone Lion drove towards, stalling short of the enclave itself. Clan Star Adder used the Fifteenth Armored Cavalry and the Seventy-third Adder Cavaliers to attack the eastern reaches of Tash, opening up a hole in the defenses that the Stone Lions exploited, hammering the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-first Iron Guards into the rear of the Steel Viper defenses, destroying the main Viper command bunker in the process. The Steel Vipers attempted to counterattack with the Thirty-eighth Phalanx, but the counterattack was driven back by heavy bombing and the Steel Vipers then found themselves pinned in place by the newly arrived Eighty-first Strike Cluster and the Golden Keshik of Clan Coyote, led by Khan Leo Koga in person.[1]
Death[edit]
The Stone Lions pressed the assault, repeatedly hitting the defenders with both Iron Guards clusters until the Steel Viper forces broke; retreating quickly into the ruins of Dehra Dun, the Steel Viper forces skulked in the ruins of the former Snow Raven city until they were hunted down by the pursuing Coyote and Stone Lion forces. The final decisive blow came when the Goliath Scorpions and Blood Spirits wheeled east and attacked the rear of Tashs, catching and killing Steel Viper saKhan George Mercer along with his Command Star; the loss of Mercer led the remaining Steel Vipers in Tash to attempt a call for surrender, but the combined Clan forces ignored the request and continued the Annihilation of the Steel Vipers. By mid-December the campaign on Circe ended, with the Clans moving on to attack New Kent.[1]