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==Chapter 3 - Best Served Cold==
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Carrack-class Military Transport, Ebon Fury 
Uninhabited System Gamma 25098 3W
July, 3049
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-Two Weeks Later-
Lilly McEvedy blinked her eyes rapidly to clear the odd spots a hyperspace jump always left behind for her.  Across the bridge, reports came in from the assorted departments of the Ebon Fury and her two DropShips of a successful jump.
As if there would be any need, or ability, to report an unsuccessful one.
"Star Commodore, I have an unusual reading." the sensor operator said.
"Increase the usefulness of your statement, if you please." Star Commodore Romina Cardew replied.
"Working." replied the operator
Tension rose on the bridge. "Unusual" readings, whatever their cause, were not welcome among space travelers."
"I have it." sensors finally said.  "Radiation bursts consistent with K-F drives at the zenith jump point, and drive trails between there and the fourth planet.  Decay puts them at a few days old."
"Readout on the fourth planet?" the Star Commodore called.
"Atmosphere, but not a pleasant one.  No life.  Average surface temperature minus twenty."
"Why would anyone visit that ball?" someone else asked.
"Star Commodore." Lilly began.
"Affirmative, Star Captain." the Commodore replied, punching up her comm.  "Great Hope, prepare for transit, recon of the fourth planet."
-Six Days Later-
From the cockpit of her PUL-W2 Pulverizer, Lilly looked over the site in confusion.  A battle had been fought, that much was obvious.  'Mechs had churned up the ground with their massive feet, melted rock and turned glass to sand with errant laser and PPC blasts, spalled armor with autocannons and missiles.  But only two had fought here, as only two had fought at a dozen other spots on the planet, and none of the fallen remained behind.  It made no sense.
"It must be Trials of Position." Robina said.
"Negative." Lilly replied.  Though the Wolverines no longer used the practice themselves, awarding promotions on leadership ability instead of fighting skill, they understood how they were run. "There are only two combatants.  Where are the other six?"
"Trials of Grievance, then." ventured Robina
"So many of them?  And why come all the way out here to settle them?  They could have been handled aboard ship, in simulators or hand-to-hand."
"Do the Clans even use simulators anymore?"
That Lilly did not know.  Nicholas Kerensky had certainly had a bias against simulated battles; it was reasonable to assume his people had carried it on, perhaps expanded it.
"We do not even know if this is the Clans." Point Commander Leslie said.
"Actually, I think we do." Star Commander Mollie Penaligan of the infantry detachment answered.  Wearing Wolverine-designed Feral Power Armor, based on the Nighthawk suits used by the Star League, they were able to move around on the planet's inhospitable surface.  "We found a waste dump, and I see lots of Smoke Jaguar emblems."
Again, the tingle of combined excitement and fear ran through Lilly's body.  Could it be?  Are they really back?  "Gather anything that looks worthwhile for analysis aboard ship.  Get samples of some of this spalled armor, too."
"Affirmative, Star Captain."
-Eight Days Later-
While the waste dump contained mostly useless junk -- ruined uniforms and cooling suits, broken and scratched holodisks, destroyed weapons and components from 'Mechs, AeroSpace fighters, and what appeared to be a truly frightening suit of some kind of improved, heavier Power Armor, there were a few good finds.  While none of the weapons could be repaired, they did show a technological equivalency with what Clan Wolverine itself had achieved, though several parts appeared interestingly modular.  Several of the armor samples were ferro-fibrous, and again comparable to that found on Wolverine 'Mechs.  Aside from the pieces hinting at the monstrous suit of Power Armor (and the equally-monstrous person it appeared designed to fit), nothing came as a complete surprise.
Except the mostly-intact data drive.
No one was sure how it ended up in the waste dump.  A lazy tech who didn't bother trying to fix it, a warrior who couldn't tell the difference between a damaged drive and an irreparable one -- whatever the reason, it was there, and a few days under the fingers of the Ebon Fury's lead computer tech were all that were required to turn it into a trove of data on the people they'd fled from so long ago.
It didn't take long at all to find the story of The Not-Named Clan.
The details were recognizable from their own history -- twisted and distorted into nightmarish form, but recognizable.  But it wasn't the truth, and the truth was of greatest importance to Clan Wolverine.  The Book of Annihilation had been penned by Sarah McEvedy's own hand to stress this, and it was meticulously noted what she knew for fact, what she was fairly certain of, and what she suspected but could not prove.  One thing she had known for certain was that Clan Wolverine would be made a bogeyman for the Clans as a whole, because Nicholas had told her so.  Still, it was shocking to read such a terrifying account, all the worse because, while filled with lies, there were grains of truth behind most of them.
"They've made monsters of us." Star Commodore Romina said, teeth clenched in rage.
"We long thought they would." Lilly replied.
"But this. . ."
Lilly shrugged, a wicked grin creeping up the corners of her lips.  "Nicholas wanted a monster for the other Clans to fear, and for that fear to keep them in line."  An evilly sarcastic light twinkled in her eye.  "Who are we to deny the wisdom of his vision?"
Romina nodded.  "I will send this on to Homeworld.  But if we are in the rear area of a Clan return to the Inner Sphere. . ."
"Then it is time to show them what their nightmares are made of."
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