I shudder to think of it - but - what are you considering for your NEXT project?
The Wars of Grievance and the Annihilation of the Burrocks. I'll let the epilogue of NELSON speak for itself
Epilogue
The Clan Homeworlds, Deep Periphery—3060The bridge of the
Invisible Truth was a scene of organised chaos as the Cameron class Battlecruiser went to battle stations. Orders were shouted out, commands relayed into microphones and across the ship, men and women ran to their action stations as weapons were armed and fighters hurriedly fuelled.
“Report.”
“Sir, we’re reading four DropShips heading towards us—two Overlord Cs, one Union C, and a Behemoth transport. Squarking IDs as the CBS
Slake, CBS
Hunger, CBS
Star of Serrah, and CBS
Universal Conveyor. Three Stars of fighters are flying cap.”
Precentor Alain Beresick nodded, glancing at the 3D holo-display. The four Clan Burrock DropShips were in a loose formation with their fighters covering their rear. Tactical was already plotting their course away from his ships: they were heading for the planet, utterly ignoring the Star League ships, it seemed. Their JumpShip, a Liberty class, was trying to hotload her jump drive. Her reactor blazed like a star on the
Invisible Truth’s sensors.
“Status change! We are detecting pre-emergence neutrinos!” When a ship jumped from system to system, there was always a surge of neutrinos before it arrived in system. But at that moment, the neutrino count was high. Very high.
“How long until emergence?”
“Estimating 30 seconds, Sir!”
The sensors were off by five seconds. Five ships blinked into existence in a surge of radiation, and Precentor Beresick’s eyes bulged as he saw the IFFs flash up on the display.
“Holy Blake—”
“Stow that! I want IDs now!”
“A-aye Sir! Reading CDS
Terror of the Deep, CJF
Gauntlet, CCS
Brimstone, CCS
Nebulous, and CSR
Mountbatten.”
‘Two battleships and three escorts from three different Clans... what in Blake’s name is going on here?’ Beresick wondered, the thought that the Clans had united to attack the Second Star League forces of Task Force Serpent being foremost in his mind. He had his battlecruiser, the Dante
Narbonne and a Combine Kirishima class cruiser, the
Takashi, but that wasn’t enough to face down a Nightlord AND a Texas class, let alone their escorts.
“Energy spike! The
Terror of the Deep is firing!”
“All hands brace for impact!”
But the Nightlord class battleship wasn’t shooting at them. Her lasers ripped into the Burrocks’ JumpShip, cutting her in half with casual ease.
“Status change! Clan ships are launching fighters.”
“How many?”
“All of them, Sir!”
“CAG?”
The CAG, or ‘Commander Aerospace Group’, looked up from her station. “Sir, we’re launching the ready birds. The rest will be away in two minutes. Other ships are launching fighters, and our DropShips are away.”
The Clan ships were firing their engines, forming up into a broad echelon, DropShips and fighters hurtling ahead.
“Sir! We are being hailed!”
“Who by?”
“The Burrocks Sir.”
“Put it on speaker now!”
There was a hiss before a voice came through, a woman’s voice: “—peat this is the CBS
Universal Conveyor hailing the Star League ships, come in please!”
“
Universal Conveyor, I am Precentor Alain Beresick. We can hear you. State your intention.”
On the sensor screen, he could see the big transport DropShip was falling behind the others, unable to maintain the thrust of the Overlords or Union.
“We... we request sanctuary. We are carrying Lower Caste personnel, twenty three thousand five hundred civilians, and we request SafCon and offer ourselves to you in a Trial of Possession.”
“What’s going on? Explain now!”
“The other Cla—”
The transmission terminated in a howl of static as the Behemoth was jammed and a new voice cut across the frequency.
“Inner Sphere Forces. This is Star Admiral Victoria Crow of Clan Snow Raven and commander of the CSR
Mountbatten. Our fight is not with you. Our fight is with the Dezgra Burrocks. Aid them and we will
Annihilate you as well. If you send your fighters towards the Burrock ships, we will take that as a hostile act and we will destroy you. Your fight is with the Smoke Jaguars; I do not care what you do to them. But aid the Burrocks and we will destroy you. Mountbatten, out.”
The comms went dead and Beresick’s mind spun. They’d heard the Clans were fighting; it was one of the drivers behind Operation Bulldog and Taskforce Serpent, to take advantage of the Clans and strike at the Smoke Jaguars whilst they were at their weakest. But now? He had no clue as to what was going on. The sensors showed the fighters of both sides merging, little flashes on the holo-display indicating ships destroyed, lives lost. The
Universal Conveyor was still broadcasting, still trying to get support, aid, anything despite being jammed. She was still calling for help as a barrage of lasers from the Clan WarShips tore her apart.
“All ships... all fighters... maintain battle stations... and escort formation. Do not engage any Clan craft unless they fire upon you or are Smoke Jaguars.” Beresick could only look on, along with the bridge, as the Burrock DropShips were destroyed, one after the other, and as the Clan WarShips jumped away, the Precentor could only wonder what madness had possessed the Clans to so casually slaughter civilians.
