Blood Horse

Blood Horse
Vessel Profile
TypeWarShip
ClassPotemkin

As of 3059, the Potemkin-class cruiser Blood Horse was a WarShip within the Clan Hell's Horses touman and was serving as the CHH Blood Horse alongside two sister vessels of the same class, the CHH Armageddon and the CHH Steel Shield.[1] The Blood Horse would continue to be an active part of the touman throughout the next decade.[2]

History[edit]

The Blood Horse was one of the Hell's Horses WarShips assigned to the invasion force assembled by Khan James Cobb for the invasion of the Inner Sphere during the early years of the Jihad. The Blood Horse and the rest of the invasion forces were gathered at the Deep Periphery colony of Nouveaux Paris on 3 September 3071 when a large force from Clan Ice Hellion arrived in the system; unknown to the Hell's Horses, the Ice Hellions were also planning their own invasion of the Clan Occupation Zones within the Inner Sphere.[3]

Unaware of just how large a force from the Hell's Horses touman was in place at Nouveaux Paris, Khan Raina Montose issued a batchall for the entire system, only to be surprised by the sheer level of resources available for Khan Cobb to bid with. While the Hellions were unwilling to withdraw their bid, Montose arranged for the Trial of Possession down to a conflict between just two individual warriors - Khan Cobb and Galaxy Commander Damon Hawkins. When Hawkins let slip that the Hellions were poised to invade the Inner Sphere, Cobb saw an opportunity in the making; handily defeating Hawkins in an arm-wrestling competition held aboard the Blood Horse, Cobb proposed to Montose that the two Clans work together, arranging for the Hellions to limit their invasion to Clan Jade Falcon systems while the Hell's Horses invaded worlds held by Clan Wolf. Montose agreed, and the truce held for several months.[3]

In mid-3072 the Blood Horse picked up what was revealed to be a distress call from the last surviving elements of the Hell's Horses garrison on Nouveaux Paris; the distress call revealed that the world had been attacked by hostile forces, which would later be revealed to be a combination of Bandit Caste and Society forces aided by the resurgent Clan Burrock. The Lola III-class destroyer CHH Black Knight was sent to rendezvous with the Blood Horse in early June, bringing Eta Galaxy to investigate Nouveaux Paris.[4]

Arriving in July 3072, the two Hell's Horses vessels were surprised to find a Cameron-class battlecruiser waiting at the zenith point of the Nouveaux Paris system. The ship - later identified as the CBS Tremor - was a former Clan Cloud Cobra WarShip captured by the Burrocks. The Tremor was acting in support of the Society cell that had seized the waystation; as the Hell's Horses forces moved towards the planet, they were shadowed by the Burrock forces, who refused to respond to any hails. When the Hell's Horses deployed DropShips to land on the planet, the Tremor's screening forces attacked, inflicting heavy casualties on the Horses but unable to prevent at least some Hell's Horses forces from landing.[4]

The Burrock forces attacked as the Hell's Horses were trying to make planetfall, and before Eta Galaxy had a chance to establish a perimeter on the ground they were swamped by Burrock ground forces. Losing a DropShip and Star Colonel Kymma DeLaurel in quick succession, the bulk of Eta Galaxy was destroyed, with only the Thirty-ninth Battle Cluster managing to pull back to the Black Knight. Before the Black Knight had a chance to react, two Clan Star Adder WarShips arrived in the system - the Lola III-class CSA Warlock and the Nightlord-class battleship CSA Absolute Truth and curtly ordered the Hell's Horses to either move out of the way or be run over. Left with little choice, the Black Knight retreated as the Star Adders began their battle to claim Nouveaux Paris.[4]

After the Jihad the Blood Horse wasn't reported to be an active vessel in either the Hell's Horses touman[5] or the touman of Clan Stone Lion,[6] suggesting that the Blood Horse was destroyed either during the Wars of Reaving or the Abjuration of the Hell's Horses.

References[edit]

  1. Field Manual: Crusader Clans, p. 60: "Naval Assets"
  2. Field Manual: Updates, p. 45: "Naval Assets"
  3. 3.0 3.1 The Wars of Reaving, p. 55: "Hellion Folly, Horse's Gains"
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Wars of Reaving, pp. 119–120: "Spreading Contagion"
  5. Field Report: Clans, p. 13: "Fleet Assets"
  6. The Wars of Reaving, p. 171: "WarShips"

Bibliography[edit]