Io (Individual Leopard-class DropShip)
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- This article is about the individual DropShip. For the BattleTech rulebook, see Interstellar Operations.
Template:InfoBoxIndividualSpacegoingVessel The Io was a Leopard-class DropShip serving with the Gray Death Legion under the command of Lieutenant David Longo since September 3050.[1] It was not listed under this name on the unit's roster in 3055 though, where instead two Leopard-class DropShips by the name of Hugin and Munin are listed.[2]
The Io and her sister ship Medea were noted to have taken heavy damage during a "recent" (as of 1 April 3056) raid against Clan Jade Falcon at Altair, and had been patched up with parts cannibalized from the Medea to be spaceworthy enough to be carried to Skye for badly needed repairs.[3]
The Io, now under the command of Ilse Martinez, was docked to the JumpShip Gray Skull on 1 April 3056 and ready to jump from Glengarry's nadir jump point to Skye when a fleet of unidentified JumpShips arrived and sent the Leopard CV-class carrier DropShip Merkur to destroy the Gray Skull. The Gray Skull managed to jump out in the nick of time after suffering moderate damage from enemy aerospace fighters, and the Io, too, suffered at least one hit which, however, left it in one piece.[4]
In December 3057 the Io (under Captain Longo again) was instrumental in Grayson Carlyle's plan to capture a JumpShip and get a message from the Hesperus system to Furillo. Carrying the elements of the Legion's battle armor troop contingent, the Io pretended a mutiny and remained at the zenith jump point recharge station in the Hesperus system; Carlyle traveled there to personally reign them in. It was in fact just a ruse to get rid of Carlyle's watchdog officer Walter Dupré. The Io and her crew and troops had never mutinied, but were instrumental in capturing a JumpShip and the recharge station. It deployed the battle armor troopers by means of four NL-42 "battle taxi" craft launched from its aerospace fighter tubes, suggesting the Io to be modified to feature at least four small craft bays.[5]