The
Second Battle of Pryde Rock
On August 5, 3061, twelve Hegemony jumpships arrived at a pirate point over Pryde Rock and twenty-six dropships burned towards the planet, carrying five regiments of ground forces and over two wings of aerospace fighters. Second Pryde's Achilles class "Marik's Pryde" and the Titan class "Pryde of Uranus" burned out of orbit to attack, supported by a white-painted Riga class warship and five white-painted dropships: three Leopard CVs, an Achilles, and an Intruder.
A total of forty-four defending fighters slammed into forty-four attacking fighters, and the main fleets met. Fighter's spiraled between dropships in death duels, as the White Warship lead the wedge of defending dropships into the heart of the Hegemony fleet. Autocannons, PPCs, and Lasers opened up and dropship after dropship exploded beneath the White Warship's assault, but the attackers were not dying alone. A Leopard exploded, and the Intruder followed suite, moments after launching her two battle taxis into battle. The "Marik's Pryde" spiraled out of the battle, her weapons bays silent and her drives shredded. The Hegemony's command Overlord exploded, and an enemy Triumph fell silent after two Battle Taxis latched onto her side. A Gazelle and a Condor also fell silent with Battle Taxis pasted to their sides and more dropships shattered.
But in the end, even the White Warship had to retire from the battle, badly damaged. A battered “Pryde of Uranus”, a single white Leopard CV, a white Achilles streaming air from a hundred holes in her flank, and twenty-nine fighters followed her. Two enemy Unions, three Leopards, a Leopard CV, two Furies, three Gazelles, and twenty fighters had broken through.
As the dropships and fighters entered the atmosphere though, another squadron of aerospace fighters and two squadrons of air-breathers rose to meet the depleted attackers and another battle began. Two lances of air-breathers fell, downed by an enemy Union, but another two lances brought a Gazelle crashing to the ground. Attacking aerospace fighters still damaged from the first battle fell to the fresh forces from the ground and another Gazelle ripped apart trying to evade the two lances of air-breathers that had killed its brother. But then the dropships found their landing zone and dropped, sending a spray of fire into the swarm of defending air-breathers and fighters. Badly damaged, the surviving defenders fell back to their base for repairs, leaving a single squadron of surviving attacking fighters.
Badly shaken by the first two battles, and watching the White Warship and the surviving dropships limping into orbit above them, the Hegomony forces moved to capture the headquarters of Terra's Pryde immediately so they could negotiate a settlement. The surviving mixed regiment slammed into Second Pryde with abandon, while four defending aerospace fighters and six air-breathers once again launched to fight the surviving attackers in the air. The heavier Hegemony regiment pushed the defender’s lines back on the ground, but was swiftly losing the air battle even before the dropships achieved orbit and launched another aerospace attack. Sixteen aerospace fighters, laden with bombs and escorted by six more fighters, dropped through the atmosphere and lined up on the heart of the advancing Hegemony forces. Explosions rippled through the trees as the bombs landed, scouring acres of woodland clear, and a dozen 'Mechs and vehicles exploded.
The last of their command structure destroyed, the surviving Hegemony forces lost their cohesion. Some lances attacked in berserker rages, taking as many defenders down as possible, while others powered down in surrender. The last of the attacking aerospace fighters crashed, missing Terra's Pryde's headquarters by a few meters, and then the White Warship sent hell fire down on one of the surviving Leopards as it attempted to launch. One of the Unions tried to launch and was turned into burning ash by the warship's massive Particle Cannon bays. The last six dropships surrendered.
As the battle ended, the two
surviving white dropships burned back out of orbit and towards the pirate point
used by the Hegemony forces. Two jumpships managed to get away, equipped with
the rare Lithium-Fusion batteries, but the remaining ten surrendered to the
White Warship’s forces.
