Dieron Star

Dieron Star
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassKyushu
In service untilApril 3100[1]

History[edit]

The Dieron Star was one of the first three Kyushu-class frigates to enter service with the Draconis Combine, as the DCS Dieron Star and an active part of the Combine black water navy by late 3058 alongside the DCS Galedon Explorer and DCS Pride of New Samarkand.[2]

By 3067 a number of Kyushu-class WarShips had been lost in action, but the Dieron Star continued to serve the Draconis Combine Admiralty.[3] The Combine was sorely wounded in the Jihad but the Dieron Star survived the conflict; by 3079 the Dieron Star was serving as an escort to one of the two massive mobile factories constructed in secret by the Combine using incomplete WarShip hulls and the assistance of Clan Diamond Shark.[4]

The Dieron Star was destroyed during the Second Combine-Dominion War. The Draconis Combine had become aware that the planet Rasalhague was only protected by the Nightlord-class battleship Ursa Major; Coordinator Hohiro Kurita acted on this information by dispatching a large part of the Combine WarShip fleet to attempt to kill the Ursa Major. The first ship to enter the Rasalhague system was the Dieron Star's sister ship DCS Draconis Rift. Arriving near the fifth planet in the system on the 29th of April 3100 before burning towards Rasalhague's moon Sigurd, the Draconis Rift was detected and pursued by the Ursa Major. An hour after the pursuit began the Ursa Major was surprised by the Inazuma-class corvette DCS Winds of Heaven, the Dieron Star and the Tatsumaki-class destroyer DCS Lair of Mighty Wyrms which jumped in directly ahead of the Ursa Major.[1]

The Ursa Major attempted to retreat back towards Rasalhague to join the Sixth Valkyrie Cluster which had launched from the surface of the planet. Intercepted by the Winds of Heaven, the Ursa Major exchanged fire for ten minutes with the much lighter Combine WarShip until the Winds of Heaven retreated having suffered almost catastrophic damage from the Ghost Bear battleship. The Winds of Heaven had succeeded in delaying the Ursa Major long enough for the other three Combine WarShips to engage her. The resulting battle was savage; the Lair of Mighty Wyrms was heavily damaged before the Dieron Star was subjected to a brutal broadside that cracked her structure and detonated the ammunition magazines, causing the crew to begin abandoning ship at 1827 hours. The Ursa Major's killing strike on the Dieron Star left it open to heavy fire from the Draconis Rift, and the Draconis Rift succeeded in crippling the Ursa Major's engines. The Lair of Mighty Wyrms and Draconis Rift continued to battle the Ursa Major as the Ghost Bear battleship span towards Rasalhague, increasingly out of control. At 1843 hours a final strike from the Draconis Rift caused the Ursa Major to explode, the centrifugal forces involved in her death-spin preventing the battleship from launching escape pods and distributing debris from the explosion across the Rasalhague system.[1]

The Dieron Star made a close pass to Rasalhague at 1940 hours before a combination of reactor overloads and outgassing tore her apart; the Ghost Bears surveyed the remains but declared the wreck unsalvageable due to the destruction of her K-F drive and the stress damage caused to her structure. The Lair of Mighty Wyrms would fare little better than the Dieron Star; having managed to retreat from the Rasalhague system, the Lair of Mighty Wyrms suffered a catastrophic jump drive failure two jumps later in an uninhabited system and was scuttled by her crew to prevent the Rasalhague Dominion from recovering her.[1]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Historical: Wars of the Republic Era, p. 35: "The Fall"
  2. Field Manual: Draconis Combine, p. 15: "Aerospace Assets"
  3. Field Manual: Updates, p. 105: "Draconis Combine Naval Assets"
  4. Field Report: DCMS, pp. 5–6: "Safeguarding the Wounded Heart"

Bibliography[edit]