Editing George Mercer

{{InfoBoxCharacter
| image               = 
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| name                = George Mercer
| birthdate           = 
| died                = [[3075]]
| othernames          = 
| affiliation         = [[Clan Steel Viper]]
| profession          = [[saKhan]]
| parents             = 
| siblings            = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 
}}
'''George Mercer''' was the last saKhan from Clan Steel Viper in [[3075]].<ref name="WoRp150">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 150, "Viper's End"</ref>

==History==
He had been [[Galaxy Commander]] of [[Chi Galaxy (Clan Steel Viper)|Chi Galaxy]]  between [[3061]] - [[3067]]<ref name=FMWC148>''Field Manual: Warden Clans'', p. 148</ref><ref name=FMU80>''Field Manual: Updates'', p. 80</ref>

Following the Grand Council held on 29 July [[3075]] where the Steel Vipers were declared the subjects of a [[Trial of Annihilation]],<ref name="WoRp149">''The Wars of Reaving'', p. 149-150, "Viper's End"</ref> and the other Clans spent two months gathering forces before electing Khan [[Hannibal Banacek]] to the position of [[ilKhan]], a multi-Clan fleet arrived in the Circe system on the 30th of October and, after a bargaining process that saw the Cloud Cobras gain the honor of leading the attack, which they began by driving two naval stars directly at the planetary SDS network. The Cloud Cobras lost four WarShips in the assault - the ''[[Aegis]]''-class heavy cruiser [[Consequence|CCS ''Consequence'']], the ''[[Vincent (WarShip class)|Vincent Mark 42]]''-class corvettes [[Hertzog's Staff|CCS ''Hertzog's Staff'']], the ''[[Fredasa (WarShip class)|Fredasa]]''-class corvette [[Perdition's Flame|CCS ''Perdition's Flame'']] and the ''[[Potemkin]]''-class cruiser [[True Sight|CCS ''True Sight'']] - but succeeded in creating a gap in the network, allowing the landing operation to begin. As the Steel Vipers launched a flanking attack the Goliath Scorpions blocked the Viper forces, and the greater part of two hundred DropShips dropped to the surface of Circe.<ref name="WoRp150"/>

George Mercer prepared the planet's defenses.

The initial landing was bloody for the Blood Spirits, who lost nearly half their forces on the initial approach when a number of ground batteries that hadn't been identified earlier ripped into their approach corridor. The Blood Spirits silenced one battery by dropping [[Alpha Galaxy (Clan Blood Spirit)|Alpha Galaxy]] directly onto the shallow hill it was located, where they were quickly joined by the Cloud Cobra [[Delta Galaxy (Clan Cloud Cobra)|Delta Galaxy]]. From this inauspicious beginning the combined Blood Spirit and Cloud Cobra forces moved north and captured the enclaves at Ides, Oberon and Wales before being slowed by a Circian storm. The Steel Vipers used the storm as cover, moving their Beta Galaxy into position to attack the Blood Spirit forces; Beta Galaxy broke the Blood Spirit [[Tau Provisional Galaxy (Clan Blood Spirit)|Tau Galaxy]] before the arrival of several Cloud Cobra aerospace [[squadron]]s from Delta Galaxy blunted the Steel Viper attack.<ref name="WoRp150"/>

The main Steel Viper enclave on Circe was Tash, which the forces from Clans Goliath Scorpion and [[Clan Stone Lion|Stone Lion]] drove towards, stalling short of the enclave itself. Clan Star Adder used the [[15th Armored Cavalry (Clan Star Adder)|Fifteenth Armored Cavalry]] and the [[73rd Adder Cavaliers (Clan Star Adder)|Seventy-third Adder Cavaliers]] to attack the eastern reaches of Tash, opening up a hole in the defenses that the Stone Lions exploited, hammering the [[27th Iron Guards (Clan Stone Lion)|Twenty-seventh]] and [[31st Iron Guards (Clan Stone Lion)|Thirty-first Iron Guards]] into the rear of the Steel Viper defenses, destroying the main Viper command bunker in the process. The Steel Vipers attempted to counterattack with the [[38th Phalanx (Clan Steel Viper)|Thirty-eighth Phalanx]], but the counterattack was driven back by heavy bombing and the Steel Vipers then found themselves pinned in place by the newly arrived [[81st Strike (Clan Coyote)|Eighty-first Strike Cluster]] and the [[Golden Keshik (Clan Coyote)|Golden Keshik]] of [[Clan Coyote]], led by Khan [[Leo Koga]] in person.<ref name="WoRp150"/>

==Death==
The Stone Lions pressed the assault, repeatedly hitting the defenders with both Iron Guards clusters until the Steel Viper forces broke; retreating quickly into the ruins of Dehra Dun, the Steel Viper forces skulked in the ruins of the former Snow Raven city until they were hunted down by the pursuing Coyote and Stone Lion forces. The final decisive blow came when the Goliath Scorpions and Blood Spirits wheeled east and attacked the rear of Tashs, catching and killing Steel Viper saKhan George Mercer along with his Command Star; the loss of Mercer led the remaining Steel Vipers in Tash to attempt a call for surrender, but the combined Clan forces ignored the request and continued the Annihilation of the Steel Vipers. By mid-December the campaign on Circe ended, with the Clans moving on to attack New Kent.<ref name="WoRp150"/>

==Titles and Positions==
{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before= [[Boyle Grimani]] }}
{{s-title|title=[[saKhan of Clan Steel Viper]]|years= [[3075]] }}
{{s-aft|after= None (Clan Annihilated)}}
{{s-end}}

==References==
<references/>

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Field Manual: Updates]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: Warden Clans]]''
* ''[[The Wars of Reaving]]''

[[Category:Clan Steel Viper Characters|Mercer, George]]
[[Category: saKhans|Mercer, George]]