Black Justice (Individual Aegis-class WarShip)

Black Justice
Vessel Profile
Type	WarShip
Class	Aegis
In service until	3070 (destroyed)

History

Founding of the Clans

The Aegis-class heavy cruiser Black Justice was a WarShip in service with the Clan Snow Raven touman and was one of the Snow Raven WarShips incorporated into the Grand Fleet assembled by ilKhan Nicholas Kerensky to pursue and destroy the fleeing Clan Wolverine survivors attempting to escape back to the Inner Sphere as a result of the Trial of Annihilation declared against the Wolverines. The Black Justice was involved in the major battle fought in the Deep Periphery system known as Barbados where the bulk of the remaining Clan Wolverine touman and civilian castes were killed or captured. The Black Justice engaged both the Vincent-class corvette Badger and the Whirlwind-class destroyer Weasel in the opening stages of the battle before both ships bypassed the Black Justice to attack other ships; the Black Justice was then engaged by the SLS Michigan, the Wolverine flagship.

Clan Invasion Era

The Black Justice served as Operation REVIVAL escort and transport for the 89th Falcon Striker, being on loan to Clan Jade Falcon along with several other Snow Raven WarShips.

In 3061 the Black Justice was one of five WarShips that made up the Snow Raven Brim Naval Assault Star throughout the 3060s alongside the Conqueror-class carrier CSR Conqueror, the Potemkin-class cruiser CSR Snowflake, the Congress-class frigate CSR Magpie and the Whirlwind-class destroyer CSR William Adams.

The Wars of Reaving

Following a highly destructive Trial of Possession against forces from Clan Goliath Scorpion in the Lum system that saw several WarShips and much of the orbital yards destroyed, the Snow Ravens responded by launching a Trial of Possession of their own in the Roche system. Originally viewed by the other Clans as an act of retribution, the end result of the Trial revealed that the Ravens' real goal was that of replenishment. The Brim Naval Assault Star arrived at Roche in March 3069 under the command of Star Admiral Anta McKenna, who immediately declared a Trial of Possession for all of the Goliath Scorpion WarShips currently on station and their crews. Khan Suvorov of the Goliath Scorpions agreed to the Trial, and the initial batchalls were bargained down until the bidding resulted in a single WarShip, plus aerospace fighters. The Snow Ravens fought using the Black Justice, squaring off against the Lola III-class destroyer CGS Sagitta and her accompanying fighters.

The Trial was fought near the small asteroid ring in the Roche system and lasted for ten hours, with the Black Justice and a single Star of Raven fighters emerging as the victors... and with the Sagitta left drifting and powerless. As a result of the Trial the Ravens were left in possession of the Sagitta along with the Congress-class frigate CGS Garlon and Potemkin-class cruisers CGS Enceladus and CGS Prometheus. Admiral McKenna gathered the Raven forces together along with their new isorla and moved her forces back to Brim, where the CSR Sagitta was quickly repaired. The four captured vessels and their crews were all kept together and deployed as a new Snow Raven Naval Star, the Hellgate Battle Star, and tasked with defending the various escort vessels following what was known as the Raven Road, a section of the stellar route from the Snow Raven holdings in the Clan Homeworlds to the distant Outworlds Alliance.

On the 20th of September 3070 Clan Steel Viper introduced the Clans in the Homeworlds to their new flagship, the Leviathan Prime-class battleship CSV Perigard Zalman. The Steel Vipers did so by striking at Clan Diamond Shark's Black Diamond Naval Star above Strana Mechty; the Perigard Zalman quickly destroyed the Carrack-class transport CDS Bloodletter and the Lola III-class destroyer CDS Predator in the first pass alone, and as the Diamond Shark civilian vessels frantically jumped out of the Strana Mechty system the Perigard Zalman continued its attack, destroying two more Diamond Shark WarShips before the last Diamond Shark WarShip, the Fredasa-class corvette CDS Swift Strike, managed to jump out of the system.

Warned by the Diamond Sharks about the existence of the Perigard Zalman, the Snow Ravens gathered the bulk of their remaining Homeworld naval assets at Lum, where they were gathering a huge convoy of vessels together, destined for the Snow Raven holdings in the Outworlds Alliance. The Snow Ravens gathered together the remains of both the Brim Naval Assault Star and the Circe Battle Star, stripping the convoy of its escort vessels. Included in this impromptu naval flotilla was the Black Justice.

The Steel Vipers gathered together the remainder of their Naval Reserve and struck at Lum within days of their assault on the Diamond Sharks; when saKhan Hoskins of the Steel Vipers declared his batchall for the entire system, the Ravens declared all they had to defend. The resulting battle pitched three naval stars on each side against each other, making the naval engagement far larger than that at Lum in 3069. While the Snow Raven fleet was by far the more experienced, their level of skill was counterbalanced by the sheer firepower brought to the battle by the Perigard Zalman and her escorts. The battle lasted for seven hours before the last four surviving Snow Raven WarShips - the Fredasa-class corvette CSR Black Beard, the Aegis-class heavy cruisers Black Justice and CSR Lord Death and the Carrack-class transport CSR Venture Star - forfeited the Trial by jumping out of the system, leaving Lum a Steel Viper holding.

By the time the surviving Snow Raven vessels jumped out of the system, the Potemkin-class cruisers CSR Rook and CSR Snowflake and the Lola III-class CSR Vision of Terra had effectively been destroyed, although a covert Watch team from the Diamond Sharks would salvage the Snowflake several years later with assistance from the Snow Ravens. The Steel Vipers immediately landed ground forces on Lum, but faced little organized resistance and discovered that the Snow Ravens had been in the midst of a mass evacuation of their holdings, with large quantities of supplies and matériel partially loaded onto DropShips at the two main DropPorts. The Steel Vipers gleefully seized the former Snow Raven resources, preparing to absorb the lower castes left behind as the Steel Viper WarShips began repairs in orbit.

The Snow Ravens were not done with Lum or the Perigard Zalman, however. Five days after the naval battle in the system, all four Snow Raven ships that had fled the battle returned to the system, launching a ferocious attack against the Perigard Zalman without bothering with a batchall; the Snow Raven vessels simply closed into range and opened up on the Steel Viper WarShips, with Steel Viper technical and laborer personnel continuing to work on repairs to the Perigard Zalman up until seconds before the first Raven blows hit the Leviathan Prime.

For all of the ferocity displayed by the Ravens, they were unable to destroy the Perigard Zalman. The four-ship squadron managed a number of successes—the Vincent-class corvette CSV Coiled Serpent was destroyed, along with three quarters of the Steel Viper aerospace fighters in the system, and almost all the Steel Viper DropShips. However, three of the four Snow Raven WarShips were destroyed - the Perigard Zalman destroyed the Black Beard and the Venture Star, while the Black Justice broke apart against the atmosphere of Lum after a failed ramming attack on the Steel Viper flagship. Only the Lord Death survived to escape the system, and did so with a heavily damaged main drive and while leaking atmosphere. The Snow Ravens had exacted a heavy price on the Steel Vipers, and while the last of the Snow Raven forces to escape the Homeworlds did so rapidly after the defeat at Lum, the lack of response from the usually-bellicose Steel Vipers indicated as to the amount of repairs needed following the last battle in the system.

Bibliography

• Betrayal of Ideals
• Field Manual: Updates
• Field Manual: Warden Clans
• The Wars of Reaving