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[Black Omega]

Excerpts from the private diaries of Nicholas Kerensky [edited 20 September, 2832]
[ilKahn's eyes only]..........

[Black Omega]

Wolf Clan Sourcebook, FASA product 1642......

"From Kerensky's Stars came the Eight Hundred.
Beneath a banner of Truth and Righteous Light
To Lift up those who had suffered and to smite down
With fearful vengeance those who had ruled
In the name of Vanity or Greed.
The thunder of their Battlemechs' feet, the lightning
From their weapons, and the blood spilled in their name
Created the Clan Spirit, the forge upon which
We have fashioned ourselves to be the weapon
Of the resurrected Star League,
Honed to a razor's edge by the trials,
By The Remembrance, and by the Words
Of the Great Kerenskys, our sires, our saviors.
    --The Remembrance, Passage 98, Verse 24, Lines 8-20

And the Chosen were divided among the Totems
Each according to his gifts and spirit.
To the [Not Named] went the most Tenacious,
The Independent, the Gamers and Survivors.
An unusual mix were they, green as new mown grass
Seasoned with the Echoes' of the Past.
    --The Remembrance, Passage 107, Verse 20, Lines 19-20 & 97-100

The trials are over and the 800 divided through the clans.  Young and old mixed together in the Wolverines including three of the famed Echo Company still serving together after all of these years.

[Black Omega]

After years of preparation, We were ready
To show our wayward Brothers, Nicholas' Grand Vision.
The approaches to the Pentagon Worlds
Were secured by our Mighty Fleet.
The Spacefarers first felt our Righteous Wrath
As We reclaimed our Outposts, Stations and Defense Grids.
Those who ran we will find and bring to heel.
Our mothballed ships will soon rejoin our Grand Armada.
    --The Remembrance, Passage 114, Verse 5, Lines 1-8

The assault on the Circe system started on schedule.  Three separate task forces were sent by Khan McKenna of Clan snow Raven.  The force sent to the mothballed warship anchorage faced minimal resistance so two warships, Essex and Whirlwind class DD's jumped in as reinforcements to the assault on Outpost One [the main space station, 32.5 degrees off plane and 2.5b km from Circe's star "Helios"].

The attack on Outpost One nearly cost the clans dearly.  The Black Lion class BC, Thunderbolt, had to be scrapped.  Spacefarers crewed McKenna, Sovietski Soyuz, and Potemkin class warships in a spirited defense of their home in space while scores of dropships and jumpships were destroyed as they tried to jump away.  The Spacefarer McKenna was destroyed and the Soyuz also scrapped.  Only 2 ships escaped.  The Potemkin [loaded with a full complement of 25 dropships] managed to fire up her KF drive and jump away.  Also, a lone Leopard class dropship ran the gauntlet of clan warships, miraculously taking no hits and heading off into space.  It was never heard from again.

[Black Omega]

Our first contact with our brothers confirmed our worst fears
That the curse of the culture of the Inner Sphere that we for so long
Tried to put behind us was alive and well.
The Nomads of the Circean desert remind us of the ancient story
Of Arrakis and her own wandering tribes.
They sought to strike from hiding and ambush
But our superior warriors withstood their feeble attempts
And turned their own storm against them.
      --The Remembrance, Passage 127, Verse 3, Lines 1-8

One of the most vicious displays ever seen in nature, the Circean Sandstorm was an amazing sight.  Even more amazing were the members of the Sand Confederacy who attacked using the storm for cover.  The Wolverine recon flight spotted them and led the attack rivaling the Snow Ravens themselves in ruthless efficiency of airpower.  Though outnumbered, the Strikers decimated the nomads in short order with no losses to themselves.  In the end, hostilities against the Confederacy were concluded with a humanitarian gesture rather than by force of arms.  The offer of food and water to the desert dwellers bought an end the first stage of the campaign.

[Black Omega]

Next on the Clan’s list was “the Glorious Imperial Dominion of the God-King Hidalgo.”  The Empire of Hidalgo was ruled by a former Star League Defense Force Lieutenant, Antonio Hidalgo.  Demobilized during Alexander Kerensky’s force draw-down for mental instabilities, Hidalgo turned to religion.  He had gained quite a following before the 2nd Exodus preaching an apocalyptic message.  Unfortunately, the riots and uprising prevented General Kerensky or his staff from dealing with him.  Given their chance during the uprising, Hidalgo’s followers made their move to create a theocratic empire.  Across Northern Circe, Hidalgo and his fanatics built a series of fortress/outposts and dealt divine justice to all who failed to believe as they did.

The Wolverines came late to the parties, assisting the Snow Ravens with the Empire.  The 1st strikers were initially to attack the Empire outpost of Osgiliath, but were forced to split their forces to rescue a Star of Snow Ravens caught in a trap.

In Osgiliath, the Wolverines quickly found themselves outgunned, in spite of the dominant presence of their aerofighter point and rising star Dimitri Kharlan.  Little did they know that they would receive help from an unexpected source.

The Kerensky Dominion was that source.  The Dominion consisted of Star League Defense Force officers loyal to Alexander Kerensky.  They did not join Nicholas on the 2nd Exodus, preferring to protect citizens on Circe as best they could by upholding General Kerensky’s ideals and principals.

The Dominion took the opportunity to end the threat of the Hidalgo Empire once and for all.  They approached Osgiliath and contacted the Wolverine force with an old SLDF code.  Their presence turned the tide in Osgiliath and several other cities as they assisted the Wolverines and the Snow Ravens.

As half of the Wolverine Strikers were entering Osgiliath, their other half was loading onto a Snow Raven dropship [CSR Nightwing] and headed off to rescue a Snow Raven star trapped by Hidalgo forces near Ithilian.  With less than one minute before drop, Star Captain Gurdel received an “Eyes Only” flash message from Clan Command on board fleet flagship McKenna’s Pride that modified his orders.  This order change would have repercussions for years to come.  The drop in a raging snowstorm was successful and the Wolverines surprised the Empire forces that were blocking one of the ends of a box canyon into which the Snow Raven star was forced.  4 Empire mechs were destroyed in the breakout with 3 pilots killed.  Clan forces lost 2 mechs, one belonging to Snow Raven, Tom Cole and the other to Wolverine, Rowan Hawker.  Hawker was severely injured during the ejection from his mech.  Wolverine mechwarrior Daisuke Matsunaka and his Mongoose doubled back to the canyon and rescued Cole and Hawker as the Empire forces chased the other clan warriors out of the area.  Hawker was evacuated to the McKenna’s Pride for life saving medical treatment.

Weeks later the Wolverine 1st Strikers and their Kerensky Dominion allies converged on Hidalgo City; the last refuge of the God-King.  The fanatics of the God-King surprised clan and ally alike with numerous uncivilized actions that rivaled the Usurper in shear brutality.  Included in these were hostages tied to fortifications and combat vehicles as human shields and purposefully sacrificing a mech causing its fusion engine to explode.  Several Wolverine mechs were destroyed as another Hidalgo mech suffered an engine explosion.  Luckily, no clan pilots were killed, although one, Star Commander Kenji Yamamori, suffered radiation burns as he was continuing to fight, after his mech had been destroyed, by lobbing demolition charges from a nearby rooftop when the enemy mech exploded.  This prompted Nicholas Kerensky to later remark, “We cannot let our aggressive nature override our common sense.  The practice of physical combat between mechs must be stamped out.”
  
Lieutenant Hidalgo escaped the initial carnage with a squad of motorized infantry.  Ironically, his body was found the next morning hanging from his statue in the center of Hidalgo City.  No details of or witnesses to the “hanging” were ever found.

[Black Omega]

Operations for the Ravens and Wolverines separated for a while.  The Ravens headed northeast to go after the Tabor Voivoidate while the Wolverines went north against the Rasmussen Elite.  The thugs that were the Elite acted just like organized crime gangs of the late 20th century, demanding payment for protection in their territory.

Star Commander Yamamori led his star out on patrol in the prototype of Clan Wolverine’s new technologies.  The new mech, the Mercury II, combined many of the features of the best scout and light command mechs ever created.  This jumped Clan Wolverine to the forefront of the inter clan arms race.

While heading to their patrol sector, the Strikers were attacked by multiple groups of Elite forces.  Unfortunately the Elite did not know with whom they were dealing.  The Strikers quickly mauled the incoming forces as they still applied the SLDF tactics of total war as their doctrine.  The Elite’s practice of individual dueling just didn’t hold up.

Meanwhile, the Snow Ravens used their allies [The Kerensky Dominion] as cannon fodder and treated them as lowly vassals.  This did not sit well with Dominion leadership.

The dispute with the Dominion came to a head on 14 Oct, as Khan McKenna of the Snow Ravens shot to death Col. Michael Guillory [C.O. of Kerensky Dominion] during an argument in McKenna’s office.  Dominion forces immediately attacked the Ravens on all fronts and a blast from the past [Dominion second in command, Col. Gerald Freund, formerly of Echo Company] led the attack on Dehra Dun.  The Wolverine Strikers happened to be in Dehra Dun on a short leave, visiting their friends in the Ravens.  They were assisting the Ravens in defense of their base when they heard the transmission from Col Freund to stand down.  The members of Echo Company in the Strikers loyalties were severely challenged and for a time made matters worse as they tried to negotiate a cease fire between the 2 sides during the battle.  The Strikers unit cohesion was pushed to the breaking point and ironically was settled by Col. Freund, who fired on all members of the Strikers, which drove the Strikers to unify and that turned the tide of battle against the Dominion.

After the battle, a closed door meeting between the Ilkhan, the Strikers and Col. Freund was held.  Ilkhan Kerensky shared top secret information with the assembled warriors, giving the reasons for General Alexander Kerensky’s actions after the Amaris war and Nicholas’ actions to date.  Nicholas then requested volunteers from the Strikers for a top secret mission.  That mission: to infiltrate the secret “Broken Wheel Society” membership within the Wolverines.  The “Society” was responsible for the mass destruction of the Amaris Civil War.  Nicholas’ end goal was to eliminate all Society members in the clans and among the exiled Star League personnel in the Pentagon Worlds.  In the future, he planned to return to the Inner Sphere to eliminate the Society forever.  The Wolverine Strikers unanimously volunteered.

The Strikers quickly returned to Circe and ended up getting dumped in the final confrontation with the Rasmussen Elite.  Frustrated with the Wolverines, the Elite gathered a final strike force and met the Strikers at Chamberlain’s Crossing.  A book was later written by one of the Elite’s survivors: “16 minutes of Hell”.  The battle did feature a classic toe-to-toe slugging match between mechwarrior Kharlan’s 100 ton Pillager mech vs an Elite Alacorn assault tank.  The Alacorn stood it’s ground, destroying Kharlan’s mech and chasing away the Wolverines aircover before ultimately surrendering.

The Snow Ravens again teamed up with the Strikers to attack the forces of L’isle des Aigles [The Isle of the Eagles].  The Eagles forces attempted a breakout from the capital of Hamilton and were caught between Raven and Wolverine forces at Cemetery Ridge.  The Eagles second in command’s mech was decapitated early on leaving a lack of coordination in the Eagles forces.  The Snow Ravens were severely damaged in the assault and blamed it on the Wolverines because of inaccurate intell of Eagle forces.  Raven sakhan Merrell survived the battle but disappeared shortly after.  No one knows where or why.

[Black Omega]

Operation Klondike is over.  The Clans of General Nicholas Kerensky have proven victorious.  Those of the Star League Defense Force that were not killed have been transformed into something new and just as deadly.  The final death tolls of the Pentagon Worlds Civil Wars and the retaking of those worlds by the Clans is in the millions.  It is probably good that the Great Father [General Alexander Kerensky] did not live to see what had become of his beloved SLDF.

Many changes occurred rapidly after the cessation of hostilities.  Surviving civilians were grouped into casts in the new society.  The warriors of each clan set up their own governments within the framework set down by Nicholas.  Nicholas set up his intelligence network [know as the “Clan Watch”] to keep tabs on what was going on everywhere in clan territory.

Joining the Watch from Clan Wolverine were SLDF veterans Kenji [the Ghost] Yamamori, Alan Moon, Alan’s son James Moon, Carl Biron and communication wizard Rowan Hawker.  They set up the organization that would last through Operation Revival and beyond.

Unfortunately, not all was well in Nicholas’ new creation.  Many did not take well to edicts from the Ilkhan on various subjects.  Many thought Nicholas was going crazy from the bout of “The Curse of Eden” he had contracted back in 2790.  Clan Sea Fox pushed for more equal status between the casts.  Clan Star Adder agitated many by allowing non-Clan warriors to join their forces.  Some Jade Falcons, hacked off that Nicholas did not join his genetic legacy with them, proposed a separate society altogether.  Before Nicholas turned his attention to the Falcons, the Falcon leaders rounded up and executed the separatist ringleaders and sent others into exile in what became known as The Culling.  Nicholas saw that he was loosing control.  The final straw came from the Wolverines.

The official story, wiped out by the purging of any references to the “not-named clan”, had it’s origins in Operation Klondike.  Disagreements between the Snow Ravens and Wolverines were never resolved in the open and left to fester.  Nicholas also had his own reasons for his actions in the affair.  He kept a tight lid on it though and only his private diaries tell his tale and that of the Wolverine Strikers.

Nicholas ordered the Wolverines to share a Brian Cache with the Snow Ravens and Khan McEvedy objected strongly.  In the Clan Council, McEvedy declared the Wolverines independent and insulted Nicholas personally.  This gave Nicholas the opportunity to regain control and finally eliminate his most hated [and secret] opposition.  The Trial of Annihilation that followed all but destroyed the Wolverines.

Yes, that was “all but destroyed”.  Some Wolverines escaped the Pentagon Worlds and were last seen by elements of Clan Ghost Bear at a waypoint along the Exodus Trail.  The Ghost Bears did nothing to stop them.  In 2824, a military unit entered the Draconis Combine and raided several planets.  They fought in an unusual style, took what they wanted and moved on.  Those warriors chose suicide over capture.  The only positive evidence left behind was a few SLDF vintage battlemechs.  The unit left the Draconis Combine and has not been heard from since.

On the planet Richmond, in the cockpit of a destroyed SLDF Lancelot battlemech, the body of the pilot was recovered.  He was wearing an SLDF issue pilot heat suit [top of the line at the time].  In a pocket was a picture of twin brothers [one was the dead pilot].  On the shoulder was a patch of the old North American state of Minnesota with a “331” emblazed upon it.  Star League records show that the patch was the insignia of the SLDF North American Division from the days of the Amaris Coup.  From this patch, the unit was knick-named “The Minnesota Tribe”.  On the other shoulder was a patch of a Terran wolverine head and claws.  This patch was unknown to the historians of the Inner Sphere.  There was one final patch on the uniform, presumably the name of the dead pilot and unknown to the personnel records of the SLDF in the Inner Sphere at the time…..Charikov.