Exodus Crusader
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| Exodus Crusader | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | WarShip |
| Class | York |
As of 3059, the York-class destroyer Exodus Crusader was serving as the CSA Exodus Crusader within the Clan Star Adder touman.
History[edit]
One of five York-class ships to be in service with the Star Adders at this time—the others being CSA Exodus Avenger, CSA Exodus Ranger, CSA Exodus Sentinel, and CSA Star Fire—the Exodus Crusader was responsible for patrolling the Arcadia system.[1] The Exodus Crusader would continue to serve throughout the next decade[2] and throughout the Wars of Reaving.
When the Khans of Clan Steel Viper and the Star Adders resolved to make an opportunistic strike against the last Clan Snow Raven convoy to try and leave the Homeworlds, the Exodus Crusader was one of the Star Adder WarShips directly involved. The Star Adders assigned a Star of naval vessels to the strike; the lead ship was the Black Lion-class battlecruiser CSA Admiral William S. Preston, accompanied by the Fredasa-class corvette CSA Arcadian Asp, the Lola III-class destroyers CSA Hagar and CSA Warlock and the Exodus Crusader. Overall command of the Star Adder and Steel Viper forces was given to Star Commodore Terrence Moffat, who brought three Steel Viper WarShips with him; the Steel Viper flagship, the Leviathan Prime-class battleship CSV Perigard Zalman, and two escort vessels, the Essex-class destroyer CSV Martial Legacy and the Potemkin-class cruiser CSV Serpentes.[3]
The Snow Raven convoy consisted of the Hellgate Battle Star—a Star of four WarShips captured from Clan Goliath Scorpion by the Snow Ravens: the Potemkin-class CSR Enceladus and CSR Prometheus, the Lola III-class CSR Sagitta, and the Congress-class frigate CRS Garlon—and no less than one hundred and nine JumpShips all traveling slowly away from Hellgate. Anticipating that the Snow Ravens would move via the Snow Raven guidepost at Ghent, the Steel Vipers arranged to seize or destroy the convoy there.[3]
On 29 July 3072, the Steel Viper force jumped into the Ghent system, arriving in the middle of the vast Snow Raven convoy, and Commodore Moffat issued his Trial of Possession bid to Star Admiral Anta McKenna, claiming all of the ships at his disposal as his bid. Admiral McKenna accepted the Viper bid as-was and declared all of her forces in defense. What Admiral McKenna hadn't realized was that Star Adder Star of vessels was waiting to join the Steel Vipers; skirting the boundaries of honor, Moffat neglected to inform McKenna of the additional forces and only communicated their presence less than a minute before the Steel Viper vessels began firing on the Ravens.[3]
Moffat didn't limit his targets to the four Raven WarShips defending the convoy and their attached escorts; instead, he had the Perigard Zalman open fire on whatever targets were in range, with the first Raven ships destroyed being fifteen JumpShips. The Martial Legacy proceeded to work in tandem with the Serpentes against the Ravens, first targeting and destroying the Sagitta, which had still been carrying the damage inflicted on it from the Trial of Possession in which the Ravens had acquired the Hellgate Battle Star from the Scorpions. In response, the Enceladus managed to inflict some damage on the Serpentes before the Perigard Zalman blocked both the Serpentes and the Martial Legacy from fire from the heavier Raven ships.[3]
Despite the best efforts of the Ravens, the battle was effectively a foregone conclusion once the Star Adder forces jumped in. The Ravens still managed to cripple the Serpentes when the Garlon intercepted the Serpentes as it attempted to close on a group of JumpShips. The Prometheus was destroyed quickly by the Star Adders, the Warlock and the William S. Preston destroying the Prometheus on their first pass; her sister vessel Enceladus then worked with several Raven DropShips to gut the Admiral William S. Preston before being destroyed in turn by the Arcadian Asp, and the Perigard Zalman accounted for the Garlon. None of the Raven AeroSpace or combat DropShip forces answered Moffat's single call to surrender, instead fighting until they had all been destroyed.[3]
Moffat's actions secured the Steel Vipers and the Star Adders a total of fifty Raven JumpShips and almost eighty full DropShips of cargo as isorla; at least sixteen Raven JumpShips managed to escape, although only thirteen were eventually reclaimed by the Ravens. The Serpentes was scuttled, although the Vipers claimed the Garlon as salvage; the Star Adders tagged the various other Raven hulks and marked their courses with a view to later stripping the hulks for matériel. The Star Adders and Steel Vipers then spaced any Raven civilians considered unnecessary before moving their booty back to their holdings.[3]
The Exodus Crusader survived the Wars of Reaving and as of 3085 the Exodus Crusader and her sister ships Exodus Avenger and Exodus Sentinel were three of the thirteen WarShips still serving in the Star Adder touman in 3085.[4]