Kaylin

Kaylin
Vessel Profile
Type	DropShip
Class	Leopard (modified)
In service until	9 November 3067 (heavily damaged)

The Kaylin was a Leopard-class DropShip operated by mercenary captain Anton Hara, with Lenard Bryce as his trusted executive officer for more than a decade. Other named crew members included one Mr. Jacoby as his comms officer, Vogel, and the "ever-silent brunette" Cadence at the helm.

The ship was modified, and was able to operate at least four (and implicitly more) aerospace fighters.

History

As of 29 July 3067, the ship and its crew, plus its Scout-class JumpShip Broken Knee, lay waiting at the nadir jump point in the Alterf system, having been hired by Interstellar Expeditions to safeguard Dr. Brooklyn Stevens and her JumpShip Sacajawea on their quest to find Jardine.

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 or his IE liaison officer Nathan Bellamy might mistake "mission support" for "mission control."

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. The Kaylin deployed two Corsair aerospace fighters when attacked in the Shasta system.

The Broken Knee, too, jumped out of the battle with the Kaylin attached 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.

Once at Jardine, Hara and Bellamy plotted to double-cross Dr. Stevens. After quick-charging its drive the Broken Knee executed an intra-system jump to intercept what they thought was Stevens's K-1 DropShuttle as it tried to escape Jardine under hostile pursuit. 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 trojan horse. The shuttle rammed the Kaylin at over 6,000 kilometers per hour just a meter shy of her aft-starboard launch bay, causing heavy damage. The Kaylin was then boarded by Manei Domini forces from Jardine. Hara, Bryce and Vogel (and implicitly, everyone aboard) were killed.

The ramming attack from the K-1 caused heavy, possibly crippling damage to the Kaylin but did not destroy it. It is the only vessel that could conceivably have brought Apollyon and his forces to the Broken Knee before it could complete quick-charging its jump drive and jump out again, which is exactly what happened. The further fate of the wrecked Kaylin was not mentioned and it is theoretically possible that it was retrieved and later repaired.

Notes

^ The Kaylin is consistently described as a Leopard in almost all references including omniscient chapter epigraphs. It was never mentioned to carry BattleMechs, but unlike a standard Leopard (which can carry four 'Mechs and two aerospace fighters) it carried at least four aerospace fighters: Two Corsairs which it deployed at Shasta, and two Lightnings of Fyre Wing which it deployed at Jardine in the attempt to capture the K-1 DropShuttle that turned out to be hostile; it is implied that the Kaylin may have carried even more fighters. There is also the mention of an "aft-starboard launch bay," which does not exist on a standard Leopard (where only one fighter launch bays is located on each side, forward of the 'Mech bays), and damage reports concerning "Flight Bays Starboard Baker and Starboard Charlie." In one instance, what appears to be the Kaylin was referred to as a Leopard CV class vessel but this was from the point-of-view of Damien Lucille as he was approaching it and may have been a genuine mistake based on the ship's fighter complement that resembles a Leopard CV more than a Leopard.
It follows that the Kaylin must have been a standard Leopard modified to carry an unspecified number of at least four aerospace fighters by converting at least two of its 'Mech bays to fighter bays.

Bibliography

• The Quest for Jardine