Arthur Steiner-Davion (Individual Fox-class WarShip)

This article is about the corvette. For the eponymous character, see Arthur Steiner-Davion.
Arthur Steiner-Davion
Vessel Profile
Previous namesAngela Franks
TypeWarShip
ClassFox

History[edit]

Manufactured in the Port Sydney Naval Shipyards in the Alarion system, the Fox-class corvette Arthur Steiner-Davion was scheduled to enter the service as the LAS Angela Franks. The third of the Foxes to be manufactured by the Lyran Alliance from their shipyards at Alarion rather than inherited from the combined Federated Commonwealth fleet, the Angela Franks was undergoing shakedown trials in 3062, on the eve of the FedCom Civil War.[1] At some point between trials on 6 December 3062[1] and her deployment to the Coventry system on the 25th of December the Angela Franks was renamed the Arthur Steiner-Davion by the order of Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion.[2] The defending garrison on Coventry had been sorely reduced by the fratricidal conflict that saw the Loyalist First Coventry Jaegers destroy the Coventry CPM and the Coventry Military Academy training cadre before turning on and badly damaging the mercenary unit Kristen's Krushers. The Krushers had declared their contract void as a result of the attack and fought their way off-world; the deployment of the Arthur Steiner-Davion was intended to ensure that the Coventry system remained firmly defended, given its strategic importance.[3]

When Allied forces led by Victor Steiner-Davion arrived to secure Coventry on 17 October 3063,[4] the Arthur Steiner-Davion should have been a nasty surprise for his forces; instead, the battle was fought with no sign of the corvette being detected.[5] Even in the aftermath of the Civil War, the fate of the Arthur Steiner Davion remained unknown, with the ship listed as missing in action in 3067.[6]

A number of theories were espoused by various parties as to what had happened to the Arthur Steiner-Davion. These theories included the defection of the ship to the Allied forces - considered unlikely, given no record of such a defection and the fanatical loyalty of the crew to Archon Katherine Steiner-Davion; that the crew had mutinied and fled the active war zones of the Civil War, intent on taking refuge somewhere in the Periphery; that the Arthur Steiner-Davion had been reassigned at the last moment to a covert mission, and would one day return to restore the deposed Archon to power; that the ship had misjumped, either in transit to Coventry or within the Coventry system (or another system) as it attempted to position itself for an attack; and that the ship had been destroyed, either by a catastrophic accident or as a result of an attack from another WarShip, despite no hostile WarShips being known to be active within 60 light years of Coventry at the time of the Arthur Steiner-Davion's disappearance. Evidence of the Arthur Steiner-Davion being destroyed was made tantalizingly more plausible by the detection of a previously-unknown object in an erratic orbit around one of the outer gas giants in the Coventry system, although said object was only detectable for a brief period before disappearing, presumably as a result of its orbit decaying.[5]

The truth of the Arthur Steiner-Davion's disappearance was perhaps stranger than any would expect, and was finally revealed in May 3074, when Coalition forces led by Galen Cox liberated the Coventry system from Word of Blake occupation. The coalition forces had located the Aegis-class heavy cruiser WoBS Immortal Spirit in the Coventry system; having taken part in the Blakist invasion in support of the Thirtieth Militia Division, the Immortal Spirit had remained in-system and was defeated in battle by Coalition WarShips, with credit for the destruction of the Immortal Spirit going to a sister ship, the Clan Jade Falcon heavy cruiser CJF Red Talon. Captured at the same time was the Newgrange class yardship[7] WoBS Blake's Mercy, which had been dispatched to repair the Immortal Spirit. A team of Rabid Foxes had managed to secure the bridge of the Immortal Spirit and recover her logs; those logs revealed that the Immortal Spirit had deployed to the Coventry system during the Civil War using a super-jump to traverse the distance between Terra and Coventry in an instant, but burning out her KF drive in the process. The Immortal Spirit had destroyed the Arthur Steiner-Davion and then retreated into the system outer asteroid belt, remaining trapped in the system for no less than eleven years.[8]

Notes[edit]

The LAS Arthur Steiner-Davion is also referred to as the LAS Arthur Davion more than once.[3][5]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Field Manual: Lyran Alliance, p. 25: "WarShips"
  2. Patriots and Tyrants, p. 186
  3. 3.0 3.1 FedCom Civil War, p. 38: "Coventry"
  4. FedCom Civil War, p. 85: "Coventry"
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 FedCom Civil War, p. 85: "The Mystery Of The Arthur Davion"
  6. Field Manual: Updates, p. 165: "Ships of the Alliance"
  7. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, pp. 24–25: "Coventry"
  8. Jihad Secrets: The Blake Documents, p. 38: "Around the Sphere - The Lyran Alliance - Coventry Liberation Aftermath"

Bibliography[edit]