Acari

Acari
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassZechetinu II
In service sincebetween 3059 and 3067
In service until12 March 3079 (destroyed)

History[edit]

The FWLS Acari was one of the second block of Zechetinu-class corvettes to be launched by the Free Worlds League between 3059[1] and 3067.[2] More than half the fleet of Zechetinus in service to the League had been secretly infiltrated by personnel loyal to the Word of Blake and promptly defected to the Blakists during the Jihad, but the Acari was one of the ships that remained in loyalist hands, at least initially.[3]

Under the command of Captain Aelisha Stewart,[4] the Acari was involved in a pitched naval battle in the Atreus system on 25 October 3068, where loyalist and Blakist elements of the Free Worlds League navy turned on each other. The Blakists had suborned a significant number of WarShips within the Free Worlds League navy, and those Blakist-affiliated ships in the Atreus system at the time—the Aegis-class heavy cruiser FWLS Nueva Badajoz, the Thera-class carrier FWLS Corinth and one of her escorts, the Eagle-class frigate FWLS Mordred, the Black Lion-class battlecruiser FWLS Xanthos, the Agamemnon-class heavy cruiser FWLS Aeneas and the Impavido-class FWLS Impavido—attacked the League loyalist WarShips present in the system at the time.[5]

The loyalist WarShips in the system were mainly lighter destroyers and corvettes, and which consisted of the Acari and a sister ship, the FWLS Scorpion, the Eagle-class FWLS Gawain, the Impavido-class FWLS Janos Marik, the Zechetinu-class corvette FWLS Sparta and the Essex-class destroyer FWLS Raven. The naval battle was a victory for the Blakist forces; none of the Blakist WarShips were destroyed, although all of them had suffered damage, but of the loyalist forces, only the FWLS Acari and FWLS Raven escaped to seek refuge in the Duchy of Oriente.[5] The Acari did however run down and destroy the Overlord-class DropShip Divine Providence which had deployed the aerospace fighters that had attacked the dignitaries and parading Knights of the Inner Sphere on the ground with chemical weapons.[4]

Redesignated as the ODS Acari, the Acari was one of two Zechetinu II-class WarShips in the Duchy of Oriente black water navy, serving alongside the ODS Kustarachnae. The two corvettes were deployed in the Kyrkbacken and Suzano systems in February 3079 when a Blakist task force struck at the nearby Ohrensen system, destroying the Essex-class destroyer ODS Schrack with nuclear weapons during their initial attack.[6]

The Acari and the Kustarachnae were deployed to Ohrensen in response along with the Fourth Fusiliers of Oriente to reinforce the defenders there, but failed to defeat the Blakists; the Kustarachne was apparently destroyed attempting to defend the Fourth and the Acari, while the Acari was evidently badly damaged and was captured by Manei Domini forces.[6] It was then used as a Trojan Horse in the Blakist attack on Oriente in March 3079, inflicting critical damage to the Thera-class FWLS Santorini before being destroyed by Duchy of Oriente forces.[6][7][8]

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: Free Worlds League, p. 119: "Renovation/Construction"
  2. Field Manual: Updates, p. 90: "Naval Assets and Militia Divisions"
  3. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 128: "Original Word Of Blake Fleet"
  4. 4.0 4.1 Homecoming (in: AeroTech 2 Revised Edition)
  5. 5.0 5.1 Jihad Turning Points: Atreus BattleCorps Exclusive Track, p. 2: "True Colors Revealed"
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 19: "Blakist Raids Savage Duchy Of Oriente"
  7. Jihad: Final Reckoning, pp. 18–19: "Shadows Over Oriente"
  8. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 69: "The Jihad In Review"

Bibliography[edit]