Lei Kung
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| Lei Kung | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | WarShip |
| Class | McKenna |
History[edit]
As of 3061, the McKenna-class battleship Lei Kung was a WarShip within the Clan Goliath Scorpion touman. Serving as the CGS Lei Kung, this ship was the focus of the four-ship Einheriar Battlegroup as well as the Goliath Scorpion flagship.[1]
During the Wars of Reaving the Lei Kung was directly involved in defending at least one Goliath Scorpion holding as the Clan came under pressure from other Clans. In March 3072 the Scorpions received word that their enclaves on the world of Foster were under siege from Clan Coyote forces. The Lei Kung and the Carrack-class transport CGS Collerane transported Gamma Galaxy to the system and took up position in orbit above the planet as the Gamma Galaxy DropShips deployed in defense of the last surviving holding on the planet, Pillar Prime.[2]
The battle on the ground didn't go well for the Scorpions, and as Gamma Galaxy was being defeated piecemeal both WarShips found themselves coming under fire from the small SDS present in the system. The SDS had been under the control of Clan Fire Mandrill, but had been seized by the Coyotes who targeted both Scorpion vessels. The Collerane was quickly disabled by anti-ship missiles, but the heavier Lei Kung was able to shrug off the initial strikes and begin destroying the SDS piece by piece. The Coyotes responded by launching waves of aerospace fighters from the surface, which pressed multiple attacks against the Lei Kung; even as the Lei Kung managed to destroy around three-quarters of the SDS, a daring strike by Coyote fighters against the aft of the Lei Kung scored a critical hit against the ship's targeting systems. With half her escort DropShips destroyed or disabled, the Lei Kung was unable to do anything to assist in the recovery of the ground forces. When the last of the forces to escape from Foster docked, the Lei Kung retreated from the system.[2]
In April 3074 the Lei Kung was deployed as an escort vessel for Beta Galaxy alongside the Congress-class frigate CGS Bernlad and the Potemkin-class cruiser CGS Karttikeya, under the overall command of saKhan Connor Rood. The task force was charged with investigating the various systems that made up the state known as Nueva Castile in the Deep Periphery, and by June had traveled as far as Waypoint 531 where a Binary from the Third Seekers had been left behind there.[3]
What the task force found at Waypoint 531 was a battered Black Lion-class battlecruiser and no sign of the Seeker Binary; the Black Lion was identified by her ID codes as the CSJ Streaking Mist, a vessel formerly part of the Clan Smoke Jaguar touman. The crew of the Streaking Mist were moving supplies from the cache at the waypoint onto the Streaking Mist when the Scorpion task force arrived, and after some initial hesitation Rood ordered Star Admiral Towie to engage.[3]
As the Scorpion forces moved to intercept, the Streaking Mist evaded the attempt to box her in and struck at the Bernlad, inflicting substantial damage to the rear of the Bernlad, including her engine decks. The Streaking Mist jumped when it reached the nearby jump point, taking half of the contents of the Scorpion cache with it.[3]
Rood adjusted his plans, moving the remaining equipment to DropShips aboard the Lei Kung before reassigning the matériel amongst his troops. Rood then led the task force into Umayyad space in July, arriving in the Córdoba system. A Trinary of forces from the First Cateran Cluster was dispatched to raid Córdoba, while the Lei Kung moved on to deploy troops again, this time in the Valencia system. By the end of the year the task force had struck at six worlds, obtaining intelligence and prisoners from both the Umayyads and Castilians.[3]
Following the ejection of the Goliath Scorpions from the Clan Homeworlds in the wake of the Wars of Reaving and the subsequent conquest of Nueva castile and the creation of the new Periphery nation known as the Escorpión Imperio the Lei Kung was the largest of the three WarShips remaining in service with the former Scorpion touman by 3085.[4]