Simon Davion (Individual Avalon-class WarShip)

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Simon Davion
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassAvalon

History

The Avalon-class cruiser FCS Simon Davion was introduced to service with the Federated Commonwealth in the early 3060s following the successful deployment of the lead ship of the class, the FCS Melissa Davion, during the Capellan-St. Ives War,[1] and was one of four Avalons to be in service by late 3062.[2] The Simon Davion had been rushed into service along with a sister ship, the FCS Lucien Davion, due to the Capellan-St. Ives War, and as a consequence both cruisers suffered a number of minor system malfunctions while active on their assigned patrol routes, malfunctions that technicians from the major companies involved in construction each cruiser would spend time on board each ship attempting to rectify.[1]

During the FedCom Civil War the Simon Davion initially fought in support of Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion and the Loyalist cause. In June 3064 the Simon Davion was part of the defensive force assigned to the key Lyran Alliance world of Hesperus II under the command of Leutnant-Kommodore Dieter Bern; stationed on Hesperus II itself were the Fifteenth and Thirty-sixth Lyran Guards, the former an elite unit and veterans of the Fourteenth battle for Hesperus II, while the Thirty-sixth were a larger, less experienced unit that had avoided committing to support either Katherine Steiner-Davion or Victor Steiner-Davion prior to the Civil War but who had chosen to support Katherine Steiner-Davion after the Civil War erupted. The Lyran High Command had also deployed the Gray Death Legion to Hesperus II to bolster the Lyran Guards and the Defiance Self Protection Force.[3]

When the Third Skye Rebellion broke out, the Free Skye forces targeted Hesperus II as an essential world to the survival of their breakaway state. Free Skye began their campaign on the 15th of June by inserting the Twenty-second Skye Rangers onto the world of Hesperus II, from where they planned to launch a rapid assault on the main spaceport for Hesperus II, located at Maria's Elegy. Despite having to quickly destroy local militia fighters who stumbled across their position on Hesperus III, the Twenty-second were confident of success, but amended their plan to instead use a secondary drop zone, an agricultural area known as Melrose valley; the Twenty-second successfully breached the aerospace fighter screen maintained over the area by the Gray Death Legion and landed in Melrose Valley on the 28th of June, the same day that their reinforcements - the Fourth Skye Rangers - arrived,[3] transported by the JumpShip Sharuq[4] and escorted by a pair of Fox-class corvettes, the FCS Indefatigable and the LAS Illustrious.[3]

The Simon Davion moved to intercept the Fourth Skye Rangers and their escort; the three WarShips clashed, with the Illustrious the first WarShip to succumb to the torrents of fire being thrown out,[3] the crew forced to abandon ship after a brutal exchange of close range broadsides with the Simon Davion.[5] The Indefatigable had taken damage by the time the Illustrious was destroyed, but was able to close on the Simon Davion and launch boarding parties; the marines launched by the Indefatigable successfully captured the Simon Davion,[5] which went on to fight in support of the Free Skye movement as they attempted to seize Hesperus II.[3]

One of the first actions the Free Skye forces commanding the Simon Davion took was to have her fire on a JumpShip owned by Defiance Industries, the Carolyn. The Carolyn was abandoned with her engines out and station-keeping drives offline; as forces on the ground scrambled to react, the Invader-class JumpShip Invidious, a ship belonging to the Gray Death Legion, was destroyed by the Simon Davion, causing the mercenaries to order their remaining JumpShips to surrender rather than be destroyed.[6] The Simon Davion then escorted the Fourth Skye Rangers to Hesperus II, while the Indefatigable moved to hold the zenith jump point.[7]

On the 1st of July 3065 General William von Frisch of Free Skye ordered the new commander of the Simon Davion, Kaptain Elena Cerlenko, to stop the Gray Death Legion from transmitting a message off Hesperus II by bombarding the HPG complex from orbit. Kaptain Cerlenko initially protested the order, but then proceeded to bombard the HPG compound; despite resolving not to fire if there was a significant chance of hitting a civilian area of Maria's Elegy, the Simon Davion then also bombarded the city spaceport, which was also the main planetary spaceport.[8] The resulting bombardment savaged the Fifteenth Lyran Guards, who were operating out of the spaceport at the time. In addition to the two thousand assorted infantry and armor personnel killed, seven hundred civilian workers at the spaceport were also killed.[3]

General von Frisch responded by dispatching the DropShip Nomad to rendezvous with the Simon Davion with a message to be hand-couriered to Kaptain Cerlenko by the captain of the Nomad; his orders were for the Simon Davion to take up position in orbit above Hesperus III and destroy any military JumpShip that entered the system via a pirate point, and to disable and seize any civilian JumpShips. Any DropShips deploying from either military or civilian JumpShips were also to be destroyed immediately.[9] The Simon Davion and the Indefatigable were subsequently withdrawn to Skye early in 3066.[10]

After the Civil War ended the Simon Davion was incorporated into the Federated Suns black water navy as the FSS Simon Davion, one of just three Avalons left in service.[11] The Simon Davion was at the shipyards above Kathil on the 15th of May 3070 when Kathil was struck by forces from the Capellan Confederation. The CCAF units involved - the Death Commandos and Warrior House Dai Da Chi - used nuclear weapons in their attack, inflicting massive damage on the shipyards and the ground microwave facilities; the Dai Da Chi ships specifically targeted and destroyed the Simon Davion.[12]

Notes

The Free Skye captain who commanded the Simon Davion after it's capture, Elena Cerlenko, wanted to rename the WarShip to the Bartlett if given the choice, in honor of Private Roy Bartlett, the first Free Skye-affiliated Marine to die during the capture of the Simon Davion.[13]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Field Manual: Federated Suns, pp. 163, "Avalon-Class Cruiser"
  2. Field Manual: Federated Suns, p. 25, "AFFC WarShip Fleet"
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 FedCom Civil War, p. 147, "Wave 5"
  4. The Dying Time, p. 191, "Chapter 25"
  5. 5.0 5.1 The Dying Time, p. 82-90, "Chapter 11"
  6. The Dying Time, p. 102, "Chapter 13"
  7. The Dying Time, p. 114, "Chapter 15"
  8. The Dying Time, p. 186-189, "Chapter 24"
  9. The Dying Time, p. 190-192, "Chapter 24"
  10. FedCom Civil War, p. 178, "Hesperus"
  11. Field Manual: Updates, p. 124, "WarShips of the AFFS"
  12. Blake Ascending, p. 203, "Kathil Attacked!"
  13. The Dying Time, p. 187, "Chapter 24"

Bibliography