Orpheus

Orpheus
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassEssex

As of 3061, the Essex-class destroyer Orpheus was a WarShip within the Clan Goliath Scorpion touman. The Orpheus was serving in the five-ship naval star known as the Wild Hunt Battlegroup as a military escort to Gamma Galaxy.[1]

History[edit]

In June 3072, the Orpheus was involved in the conflict over various enclaves on the former Clan Smoke Jaguar world of Huntress. Both the Goliath Scorpions and Clan Cloud Cobra were working together with the agreement of their respective Khans to Reave a number of Smoke Jaguar genetic legacies stored in Mount Szabo, the majority of which had remained unused since the Annihilation of the Smoke Jaguars.[2]

The combined Cloud Cobra and Scorpion forces took the Mount Szabo facility easily, despite resistance from a small Dark Caste force nearby—something that would be identified in future years to be a result of Mount Szabo having become a Society facility during the years in which the Clans believed the site to be unused. The two forces took only enough isorla to repair the damage taken during the brief battle, confirmed the presence of the various legacies, and then withdrew so that the facility could be destroyed by orbital bombardment on the 30th of June.[2]

The advanced machines used by the Dark Caste forces convinced the Cobras and Scorpions to investigate Huntress further, looking for more evidence of such advanced technology; as they were working through various abandoned Smoke Jaguar enclaves a force from Clan Coyote appeared near Huntress via a pirate point and quickly dropped ground forces onto the planet, seizing a number of resource complexes and the Warhawk factory on Abysmal from the Scorpions. The Coyotes quickly stripped the captured facilities before the Scorpions could react, leaving pursuing Scorpion forces to engage the Coyote rearguard as they were leaving the planet.[2]

The Coyote DropShips were engaged by the Orpheus and the Volga-class transport CGS Andromeda, which Star Admiral Patel Suvorov had the foresight to have placed in position in advance of the Coyote's retreat. The two Scorpion WarShips caught and destroyed half of them, only to be attacked in turn by the CCS Relentless Pursuit, a Coyote Vincent Mk. 39-class corvette. The Relentless Pursuit quickly gutted the Andromeda, while a combination of Coyote aerospace fighters and previously unseen assault ProtoMechs with wings held the Orpheus off; with the Andromeda out of action, the Coyotes then used repeated strikes to hammer at the Orpheus until it broke up against the atmosphere of Huntress.[2]

Notes[edit]

The correct ship should be the Relentless Pursuit, per Ben.
  — Catalyst Game Labs Errata Forum, 15 Aug 2011

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: Warden Clans, p. 108: "Naval Assets"
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 The Wars of Reaving, pp. 100–101: "Fall of Szabo"
  3. Catalyst Game Labs Errata Forum, 15 Aug 2011

Bibliography[edit]