Ice Storm Star (Clan Snow Raven)

Ice Storm Star
Formed	3076
Affiliation	Clan Snow Raven
Parent Command	Clan Snow Raven touman

History

Formation

The Ice Storm Star was formed by Clan Snow Raven in or around 3076 in the Outworlds Alliance following the exile of the Clan from the Clan Homeworlds during the Wars of Reaving. Soon after the formation of the Ice Storm Star the Snow Ravens responded to a request from Clan Ghost Bear to provide forces to the allied coalition assembled by Devlin Stone to battle the forces of the Word of Blake and participate in the campaign to liberate the Word of Blake Protectorate, codenamed Operation SCOUR.

The Ice Storm Star was first formed of five WarShips: the Aegis-class heavy cruisers CSR Blue Quest and CSR Scabbard, the York-class destroyer CSR Corvidae, the Whirlwind-class destroyer CSR William Adams and the Vincent Mk. 42-class corvette CSR Huninn.

Operation SCOUR

Dyev

The combined Ghost Bear and Snow Raven task force which had agreed to support the allied coalition struck at a number of Blakist worlds on the 21st of July 3076; Dyev was one of the worlds targeted by the Clan forces, along with the nearby worlds of Kervil, Ko, Lambrecht, Moore and Sabik. What distinguished Dyev from the other campaigns was that in mid-December 3076 the Word of Blake launched a counteroffensive to try and recapture the planet, with the Blakist ground troops receiving support from a number of WarShips and Pocket WarShips.

However, the Blakist WarShips took on three Clan WarShips: the Leviathan II-class battleship CGB Rasalhague, the Nightlord-class battleship CGB Ursa Major and the Scabbard. As the Blakist WarShips and their accompanying Pocket WarShips and Assault DropShips engaged the Clan WarShips, a second Blakist force arrived and delivered multiple troop DropShips onto Dyev, with two-thirds of the troops surviving and dispersing to avoid orbital bombardment from the Clan ships. Despite the successful insertion of the Blakist ground forces the Clan WarShips took a heavy toll on the Blakist WarShips; while the Scabbard was destroyed and the Ursa Major was heavily damaged, the Blakists lost three WarShips: the Whirlwind-class Fire Fang, the Aegis-class WoBS Righteous Fury and the Congress-class frigate WoBS Hollings York.

New Earth

The Huninn was lost during the battle for New Earth, where a contingent of roughly four Galaxies of mixed Clan forces drawn from the Lyran Alliance front of the Operation struck on the 8th of February 3078, meeting heavy resistance.

The initial attack was rebuffed, with the Clan forces having retreated by mid-February; while the media reported that the SDS in the New Earth system had been destroyed or at least heavily damaged, it also reported that up to four Clan WarShips had been destroyed, and that the Clan forces had been forced to retreat due to the presence of not just the anticipated Protectorate Militia Divisions and Blakist Militia Division, but also at least one Shadow Division. There were also unsubstantiated rumors that the forces from the Ghost Bears, Clan Jade Falcon and Clan Wolf had arrived at different times, with the Ghost Bears arriving early, and that the Clan forces had then failed to work together.

One of the destroyed WarShips was subsequently identified as the Aegis-class CJF Frost Falcon; another was the Volga-class transport CGB Ursine Boatman, and the third was the Huninn.

Titan

The remaining three ships of the Ice Storm Star were assigned to Task Force CRONUS during the planning for the assault on Terra itself and were joined by the Conqueror-class carrier CSR Ark Royal; CRONUS was a predominantly-Clan naval force consisting of fourteen assorted WarShips under the overall command of Admiral Alex Douglas, and was charged with the neutralization of the Blakists' Titan Yards. While viewed by many as a relatively easy precursor for the heavy fighting to come, Titan was the seat of the Word's WarShip and aerospace production and maintenance facilities in the Terran system, and was equipped with a fully functional Caspar II Drone network and a number of the deadly "Dragon's Breath" Multiple Capital Missile Launch Systems.

Jumping into a Pirate Point near the yards, with the Lyran and Draconis Combine WarShips serving as reserve command ships and the Clan forces split into two naval "Stars", one consisting of the Ghost Bears and Ravens, the other the Jade Falcons and Wolves, the Coalition forces came under attack almost immediately. Initially facing waves of manned and drone aerospace fighters and long-range missile attacks, the Coalition ships soon came under fire from a horde of manned and drone Pocket WarShips, as well as the Essex-class destroyer WoBS Deathblow, the Dante-class frigate WoBS Narbonne and the Suffren-class destroyer WoBS Manchester - three Com Guard WarShips salvaged by the Blakists from unsuccessful Case WHITE attack on Terra.

The Blue Quest and the Congress-class CJF Green Lantern were destroyed during the height of the initial Caspar drone assault, but the Coalition forces were able to steadily advance on the shipyard's facilities, with the Tatsumaki-class destroyer DCS Lair of Mighty Wyrms and the Ghost Bear Dominion Leviathan II-class battleship CGB Great Bear able to get their fighters within striking distance of the main Aerospace docks. Unfortunately, what appeared to be the crippled remains of an ore processing facility was in fact the Blakists' attempt to take their Q-Ship concept to the next level, with a "Dragon's Breath" multi-missile station unleashing multiple waves of nuclear-tipped and ECM-equipped Peacemaker missiles at virtually point-blank range, overwhelming and destroying the mighty Great Bear in moments. With the Coalition continuing its assault, the Sovetskii Soyuz-class heavy cruiser CJF Hawker fell prey to another hidden station, while the Corvidae and the Black Lion-class battlecruiser CWS Stealthy Kill succumbed to continued Caspar drone group attacks.

Whilst ultimately successful and providing valuable experience for the assault around Terra, Task Force CRONUS paid a heavy price. The battle for the Titan yards lasted a little over four hours and at least half a dozen ships were destroyed with the survivors all having suffered heavy damage. Hopes were totally dashed that ships of the CRONUS task force would be able to assist those of Task Force EARTHBOUND for the assault on Terra.

Rebuilding

The reconstituted Ice Storm Star was back in service by 3079 and led by the namesake battlecruiser, the Cameron-class CSR Ice Storm, accompanied by the Ark Royal, the Congress-class CSR Magpie, the Whirlwind-class CSR Drake and the Vincent Mk. 42-class CSR Muninn. By this point, the Ice Storm Star was one of just three naval Stars left in service with the Snow Ravens, the other two being the Conqueror Naval Star and the Eden Rose Transport Star.

As of 3145 the Ice Storm Star remained in the same composition, organized as part of Beta Galaxy (Clan Snow Raven) and under the command of one Star Admiral Iqbal Lankenau, with Kirbyville as their nominal homeworld.

Officers

Rank	Name	Command
Commanding Officers of the Ice Storm Star
Star Admiral	Iqbal Lankenau	3145

Tactics

Unknown.

Composition History

3076

• Aegis-class heavy cruisers CSR Blue Quest and CSR Scabbard
• York-class destroyer CSR Corvidae
• Whirlwind-class destroyer [[CSR William Adams
• Vincent Mk. 42-class corvette CSR Huninn

3079

• Cameron-class battlecruiser CSR Ice Storm
• Conqueror-class carrier Ark Royal
• Congress-class frigate CSR Magpie
• Whirlwind-class CSR Drake
• Vincent Mk. 42-class CSR Muninn

3145

(as 3079)

Bibliography

• Field Manual: 3145
• Field Report: Clans
• Jihad: Final Reckoning
• Jihad Hot Spots: 3076
• Jihad Hot Spots: Terra