Broken Knee

Broken Knee
Vessel Profile
TypeJumpShip
ClassScout

The Broken Knee was a Scout-class JumpShip. As of July 3067 it was assigned to carry Anton Hara's Leopard-class DropShip Kaylin with Hara in overall mission command to the point where the captain and crew of their JumpShip were never mentioned by name. On or shortly after 29 July 3067 they left their waiting position at the Alterf system's nadir jump point and prepared to move to the Shasta zenith jump point by way of the Escobas nadir jump.[1]

The Kaylin had been hired by Interstellar Expeditions to lend "mission support" to Dr. Brooklyn Stevens and her team on the JumpShip Sacajawea in their IE-mandated search for the lost world of Jardine, and Nathan Bellamy was aboard the Kaylin as the IE liaison officer. When the ships met at Shasta on 13 October, Dr. Stevens for her part was distrustful of IE's motives in sending Hara's armed vessel along, suspecting he might mistake "mission support" for "mission control".[1]

On 16 October the Sacajawea and the Kaylin (attached to the Broken Knee) came under surprise attack from the Luminus Omega just as the Sacajawea prepared to jump to "Herakleion" (Jardine), which they did during the battle.[2] The Broken Knee, too, jumped out of the battle but due to broken coordinates transmitted from the Sacajawea during the fighting they had to jump into empty interstellar space first, recharge their K-F drive from the ship's reactor, and reconstruct suitable jump data before jumping to Jardine proper on 30 October, where they arrived at a pirate jump point eight AUs out.[3]

Once at Jardine, Hara and Bellamy plotted to double-cross Dr. Stevens.[4] After quick-charging its drive the Broken Knee executed a mid-system jump to intercept what they thought was Stevens's K-1 DropShuttle as it tried to escape Jardine under hostile pursuit.[5] The Kaylin undocked from the Broken Knee and moved to meet her DropShuttle. When the ships met on 9 November, the Kaylin discovered too late that the shuttle was a trojam horse and was heavily damaged and boarded by Manei Domini forces from Jardine in the ensuing fighting.[6]

The Broken Knee had been operating under a very tight schedule. The plan had been to quick-recharge its drive again after the in-sytem jump while the Kaylin recovered (captured) Stevens's DropShuttle, so that they could jump out in the nick of time before the pursuing hostiles could catch up with the JumpShip. This did not work out and the Broken Knee, too, was subsequently captured; Apollyon himself traveled aboard the Broken Knee and had arrived at the zenith jump point of the Skye system by 12 December 3067.[7]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Quest for Jardine, book 1: The Hunt for Jardine, ch. 4
  2. The Quest for Jardine, book 1: The Hunt for Jardine, ch. 5
  3. The Quest for Jardine, book 2: Finding Jardine, ch. 3, 5, 6
  4. The Quest for Jardine, book 3: Escape from Jardine, ch. 3, 5
  5. The Quest for Jardine, book 3: Escape from Jardine, ch. 7
  6. The Quest for Jardine, book 3: Escape from Jardine, ch. 9, 10
  7. The Quest for Jardine, book 3: Escape from Jardine, Epilogue

Bibliography[edit]