Divine Conquest

Divine Conquest
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassSovetskii Soyuz

The Sovetskii Soyuz-class heavy cruiser CSA Divine Conquest was serving within the Clan Star Adder touman.

History[edit]

As of 3059, the Divine Conquest was one of two Sovetskii Soyuz-class vessels serving within the Star Adder touman at the time - the other being the CSA Nygaard - and the Divine Conquest was serving as one of five ships within the Beta Naval Reserve.[1] The Divine Conquest remained an active part of the Star Adder touman for the next decade[2] and into the Wars of Reaving.

Wars of Reaving[edit]

3072[edit]

With Clan Coyote complicit in a number of attacks on holdings belonging to Clan Star Adder, the Star Adders responded by sending the Gamma Naval Reserve Star - of which the Divine Conquest was now a part - to the Tamaron system with the intent of claiming some Coyote holdings as retribution. The Star Adder forces arrived on 18 October 3072, but found themselves facing far more by way of defenses than they had anticipated. In addition to the anticipated Texas-class battleship CCS Ancestral Home, Tamaron was defended by a newly-constructed Olympus-class defense station, numerous stars of aerospace fighters launched from that station, a number of assault DropShips, and the Lola III-class destroyer CCS Rage, last known to be in the control of Kindraa Mattila-Carrol of Clan Fire Mandrill.[3]

Star Admiral Gavin Turgidson of the Star Adders issued a call for safcon to the surface of Tamaron, only for the Coyotes to immediately rebuff his request. The Ancestral Home quickly closed on the Star Adder forces and drew first blood, destroying the Carrack-class transport CSA Black Adder. The Vincent Mk. 42-class corvette CSA Centaur and the Essex-class destroyer CSA Eagle responded by firing on the Ancestral Home, only to have their barrages apparently inflict little or no damage. The Rage took advantage of the confusion resulting from the failed Star Adder broadsides, crossing in front of the Eagle and crushing the nose of the smaller WarShip with weapons fire. The damage inflicted by the Rage merely destroyed a number of weapon bays, but the Eagle began tumbling out of control, only for several Stars of Coyote aerospace fighters to close and cripple her power plant and maneuvering drives. The Eagle was left tumbling; equally as mysterious as the apparent inability of the Star Adder WarShips to inflict damage on the Ancestral Home was the subsequent discovery from records of the battle that the Rage had beamed some form of localized HPG broadcast to the Eagle immediately before the ship appeared to go haywire.[3]

The Centaur was joined by the Divine Conquest in launching another round of broadside fire at the Ancestral Home, which was rapidly approaching the Adder forces; for a second time, the Star Adder weapons appeared to have little effect. As the Star Adders tried to deal with the Ancestral Home, the ship executed a high-g turn and roll which stunned the Star Adder forces and left the Ancestral Home positioned to fire on the Divine Conquest; the resulting full broadside gutted the Star Adder vessel from stem to stern, leaving the Star Adder forces broken. The Centaur gathered what few Star Adder DropShip and fighter forces remained and broadcast a request for hegira, which the Coyotes accepted, allowing the Star Adders to leave the system.[3]

3074[edit]

Having been recovered from the Tamaron system and repaired,[4] in late 3074 the Divine Conquest and two other Star Adder WarShips, the Aegis-class heavy cruiser CSA Stellar Serpent and the York-class destroyer CSA Exodus Ranger, were assembled along with no less than seven Galaxies of Star Adder forces—Alpha, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Sigma, Tau, and Xi—into a task force under the personal command of Khan Stanislov N'Buta for a strike at the Tanis system. The Star Adder Watch had identified that something was seriously wrong in the Tanite worlds, and N'Buta was determined to regain control of the system. Invoking a previous agreement with Clan Cloud Cobra, the Star Adder saKhan persuaded saKhan Hannibal Banacek of the Cloud Cobras to join the task force, accompanied by another York-class ship, the CCS Brimstone, and the Fredasa-class corvette CCS Hell Fury.[5]

The task force arrived in the Tanis system on the 17th of December and the Stellar Serpent, Divine Conquest and Hell Fury quickly attacked and defeated the two defending Burrock WarShips, the Mako-class corvette CBS Ingrid Bucharev and the McKenna-class battleship CBS Second Coming, securing lanes for the various Galaxies to begin making planetfall. The Exodus Ranger and the Brimstone were responsible for escorting Alpha, Sigma, Xi and Tau Galaxies to Alexandra, where the defending Tanite, Burrock and Society forces launched ferocious defensive surface-to-atmosphere fire that saw half of Xi Galaxy destroyed before it could make planetfall.[5]

With the ground campaign on Stacha proceeding frustratingly slowly for the Star Adder forces thanks to the wily tactics of the Bandit leader known as Jaguar, who used the main industrial complex on Stacha as both a defensive position and a base for hit and run attacks, Khan N'Buta ordered the Exodus Ranger to destroy the complex by orbital bombardment. Unfortunately for the Star Adders, Jaguar and his forces avoided being destroyed, and the attack failed to flush the determined bandits out into the open.[5]

Destruction[edit]

The Divine Conquest is not listed as having survived the Wars of Reaving,[6] and was therefore most likely destroyed during the Annihilation of Clan Steel Viper in 3075.

Notes[edit]

  • The recovery and repair of the Divine Conquest following the heavy damage inflicted by the Ancestral Home at Tamaron in 3072 was confirmed by the author of The Wars of Reaving:
It is correct. Between 3072 and 3074, the Vipers salvaged the Conquest and utilize her at Tanis in some capacity.
  — GhostBear (Ben Rome), BattleTech Assistant Line Developer, 28 Mar 2013

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 119: "Naval Assets"
  2. Field Manual: Updates, p. 50: "Naval Assets"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 The Wars of Reaving, p. 112: "Stalwart Defense"
  4. Catalyst Game Labs: Ask The Writers, 28 Mar 2013, "Wars of Reaving: Sovetskii Soyuz-class Divine Conquest"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 The Wars of Reaving, p. 144: "Adder's Assault"
  6. The Wars of Reaving, p. 168: "WarShips"

Bibliography[edit]