Hephaestus (Individual Cameron-class WarShip)
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- This article is about the battlecruiser. For other uses, see Hephaestus.
| Hephaestus | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | WarShip |
| Class | Cameron |
As of 3061, the Cameron-class battlecruiser Hephaestus was a WarShip within the Clan Goliath Scorpion touman and was the lead ship of the four-ship Fire Wheel Battlegroup and escort vessel for Beta Galaxy.[1]
History[edit]
In November 3073, Khan Ariel Suvorov led the Hephaestus in an attempt to contact the remnants of Clan Fire Mandrill on their homeworld, Shadow; when the Hephaestus arrived, there was no sign of the Fire Mandrills. Shadow had a large fleet from Clan Coyote orbiting the planet, including a full Star of WarShips; Khan Suvorov made repeated attempts to communicate with the Coyote forces but received no reply, and rather than try and force the issue with just a single ship at his command, instead decided to jump to Dagda.[2]
When the Hephaestus arrived at Dagda, it found that the planet was in decline following what appeared to be extensive orbital bombardment. The volcano known as Mount Hades on Satan's Table had erupted, and a number of the undersea domes had been shattered; the combination of events had rendered the planetary ecosystem unstable, and very few of the Clan enclaves on the planet were still capable of functioning. The only contact that the Hephaestus could make was with Star Colonel Hampton Schroeder, a warrior from the Fire Mandrills based near Folke. Khan Suvorov had the few survivors from the Fire Mandrills loaded aboard the Hephaestus and her DropShips, cramming the survivors into every available space. Those who had survived were mainly warriors, scientists or technicians, and Khan Suvorov extended an offer to Star Colonel Schroeder absorb the Fire Mandrill survivors in a fashion akin to a Trial of Absorption. Schroeder agreed, and after the Star Colonel had been knocked unconscious by Khan Suvorov several rounds into a boxing match, the Fire Mandrills became Goliath Scorpions.[2]
Following the Trial, the Goliath Scorpions sent three more convoys to Dagda, attempting to remove as many of the civilians as possible; the first two convoys were successful, but the third convoy consisting of four JumpShips was destroyed in late January 3074 by a Bandit Caste force, with ten thousand civilians dying as a result.[2]
The Abjuration of the Goliath Scorpions resulted in the destruction of the Hephaestus; with half the touman relocated to recently-conquered holdings in Nueva Castile, the Hephaestus was amongst the last Goliath Scorpion military forces to remain in the Clan Homeworlds. When Clan Cloud Cobra launched their final attack on Roche[3] in January 3081[4] the Hephaestus engaged the Cloud Cobra WarShips, destroying the Aegis-class heavy cruiser CCS Inquisitor and the Fredasa-class corvette CCS Hell Fury before finally being destroyed in turn.[3]