Deimos (Individual DropShip)
Sarna News
- This article is about the refitted freighter DropShip. For other uses, see Deimos.
| Deimos | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | DropShip |
| Class | uncertain (strongly implied to be a modified Danais, possibly Trojan); see Notes below |
An originally unarmed merchant DropShip that was refitted into an armed troop transport, the Deimos was a DropShip best known for its association with the famous Gray Death Legion.[See Notes]
Contents
History[edit]
Deimos was "DropShip One"[1] of Renfred Tor's free trader JumpShip Invidious. No exact class was mentioned for the Deimos, while its sister ship Phobos—the "Number Two" DropShip—was identified as a Danais-class vessel later modified to Trojan specifications.[2]
Both the Deimos and the Phobos had weapons installed on them after being boarded by pirates while en route to Trellwan in 3024.[3] However, while the Phobos was refitted into what was later identified as a Trojan-class vessel, the Deimos apparently received a different refit as only one of the two vessels—the Phobos—was subsequently still able to carry a pair of aerospace fighters.[4] The exact configuration of the Deimos either before or after modification was not specified.
The JumpShip Invidious and its two DropShips ("merchanters converted to troop transports," apparently referring to the Deimos and the Phobos) had become an integral part of the Gray Death Legion's Transport Division by the time of the Sirius campaign in 3028,[5] but at the same time the Gray Death Legion already employed another DropShip named Deimos that was consistently described as a Union-class vessel[6] and at one point was observed to fire autocannons,[7] weapons which are standard on a Union but not on a Danais or Trojan (the implied class of the Deimos).
Only the Union-class vessel is mentioned with the Gray Death Legion afterwards.[8]
The ultimate fate of the original Deimos is unknown. It was noted that the modifications in 3024 were made in a rather crude and haphazard manner, and it could be speculated that this had perhaps cut the ship's service life short.
Class[edit]
For the purpose of this article, the Deimos was tentatively identified as a Danais-class DropShip based on circumstantial evidence deemed sufficiently strong:
The specific class of the Deimos is never explicitly mentioned, unlike for its sister ship Phobos which was identified as a Danais that had been modified to Trojan specs. The Phobos and Deimos were summarily referred to as commercial freighters "similar in design and capacity to the standard Union class military DropShips,"[9] strongly suggesting that the Deimos was of the same class as the Phobos and thus originally a Danais.
However, when it had weapons installed its configuration turned out different from the Phobos as unlike its sister ship it was subsequently unable to carry aerospace fighters, and it is therefore uncertain if the Deimos would have been considered a Trojan-style refit as well (Trojan being apparently an ill-defined configuration, and may possibly refer to any militarized Danais; the Phobos meanwhile was specifically identified as a classic Trojan refit).
Notes[edit]
^ It should not be confused with the Union-class vessel bearing the same name that apparently entered service with the Gray Death Legion around 3026–3027.
References[edit]
(Page references for the novels refer to the PDF editions and may differ from print editions.)
- ↑ Mercenary's Star, p. 238
- ↑ Mercenary's Star, p. 17
- ↑ Decision at Thunder Rift, pp. 58 (Renfred Tor narrates how one of the DropShips had heavy weapons mounted), 115 (Lori Kalmar recounts how she was put to work on installing weapons on both DropShips)
- ↑ Mercenary's Star, p. 23; according to p. 31 there had been no money to buy better DropShip weapons, suggesting the ships were not modified anymore after their initial refit.
- ↑ The Price of Glory, pp. 17–18
- ↑ The Price of Glory, pp. 29, 60, 78
- ↑ The Price of Glory, p. 89
- ↑ Mercenary's Handbook 3055, p. 57; The Dying Time, p. 73; Field Manual: Mercenaries, p. 56, describes the Gray Death Legion to possess five Union class DropShips and a number of aerodyne DropShips, but no other spheroid designs, without giving names.
- ↑ Mercenary's Star, p. 31