Redemption

(Redirected from TCS Vendetta)
Redemption
Vessel Profile
Previous namesVendetta
TypeWarShip
ClassQuixote

The TCS Vendetta was a Quixote-class WarShip gifted to the Taurian Concordat during the Jihad which became notorious for its role in the Taurian Concordat/Federated Suns War in the late thirty-first century.

History[edit]

The Jihad[edit]

Origins[edit]

The Vendetta was revealed to be in service with the Taurian Concordat in May 3074, just two weeks after the capital of Taurus had been bombarded with asteroids, killing Taurian Protector Grover Shraplen. The Concordat responded to the disaster on Taurus by relocating its rimward forces to the Federated Suns border - forces which included a newly unveiled Quixote-class WarShip, the TCS Vendetta.[1][2]

While the precise origin of the Vendetta is unknown, it is widely speculated that as with a number of other WarShips and technologies, the Word of Blake recovered the Vendetta from an SLDF junkyard of some kind in the buildup to the Jihad. The timing with which the Vendetta was presented to the Taurian Defense Force would later prompt speculation that supported the idea that the Word of Blake, implied to have been responsible for the asteroid bombardment of a number of worlds across the Inner Sphere and Periphery including such worlds as Algedi, Galax and Necromo, may have bombarded Taurus to provoke the Concordat into a frenzy of new attacks against the Federated Suns, with the Vendetta playing an important part.[3]

Brusett and the FCS Kathil[edit]

The Word of Blake's Twenty-second Militia struck at the Capellan March world of Brusett on 30 May 3075. The Federated Suns responded by mustering and deploying a small flotilla of ships including the WarShip FCS Kathil to the system to stave off an anticipated attack by the Concordat; Taurian forces arrived in the Brusett system in late June, and on the 30th of June the TCS Vendetta and the FCS Kathil battled over Brusett. The TCS Vendetta was forced to retreat, but the FCS Kathil was lost in the battle, and several major cities on the planet suffered horrendous collateral damage due to the nuclear weapons both sides used in orbit and within the planetary atmosphere.[4][5]

Panpour[edit]

Main Article: Battle of Panpour (3076)

On 11 February 3076, the Vendetta raided the Panpour system, looking to destroy the Jalastar Aerospace factory located there. The defenders fought hard, bringing down Taurian Union-class and Overlord-class DropShips with a combination of Air-to-Air Arrow Missiles and a suicidal strike by Captain Stephen Hollins' Stuka that was credited with both destroying the Overlord and diverting it's wreckage enough that it didn't level the city of Amritsar when it came down. Despite the heroic defense, enough Taurian ground forces were able to land that they put the factory offline for several months.[6][7]

The Roughriders[edit]

The Federated Suns later used the mercenary unit known as Hansen's Roughriders in a protracted campaign to weaken the industrial base of the Taurian Concordat, a campaign that saw the Roughriders attack a number of worlds within Concordat space, destroying factories and military infrastructure. Having hit several worlds the Roughriders would return to Federated Suns space when they arrived on Warren on 5 April 3076 to resupply.[8][9] A Taurian task force led by the Vendetta actively pursued the Roughriders, arriving in the Warren system on the 13th of June; the Roughriders retreated to Keuterville, but their retreat didn't stop the Vendetta from bombarding the planetary capital and spaceports on Warren. The Vendetta then bombarded Keuterville on the 7th of July, with the Roughriders retreating again, this time to Firgrove. In the Firgrove system a Federated Suns task force led by the Fox-class New Syrtis managed to intercept the Vendetta before the planet could be attacked, forcing the Vendetta to retreat.[10][11]

The deployment of the Vendetta and its actions in pursuit of the Roughriders had an impact well beyond the worlds directly targeted; on the 30th of June Baron Cham Kithrong of the Calderon Protectorate recalled all of those Protectorate troops which had been deployed into the Concordat to assist the population after the asteroid strike on Taurus and the Federated Suns counteroffensive. Kithrong directly cited "moral conflicts" as the reason for the recall.[10][11]

New Syrtis[edit]

Having been forced to retreat from Firgrove, the Vendetta returned to the Brusett system in mid-September 3076. The Vendetta and her task force put Brusett under siege, but the siege would only last until the 2nd of October; the arrival of the FSS New Syrtis and resulting naval battle saw the Federated Suns WarShip suffering crippling damage, but not before enough critical damage was inflicted on the Vendetta by the New Syrtis and her escorts to force the Vendetta to retreat. Despite the naval siege of Brusett being broken, a Taurian task force raided New Syrtis on the 12th of October 3076; using a combination of bombing runs, random orbital bombardment and nuclear strikes the task force not only crippled the New Syrtis Shipyards facilities but also to inflict devastating damage on large swaths of the equatorial regions of the world.[10][11]

Firgrove[edit]

On 19 June 3080, the Vendetta attempted to raid the Clyde Shipyards at Firgrove,[12] intent on damaging or destroying the shipyards, capturing supplies and drawing out Federated Suns WarShips. A fragment of a news broadcast being recorded by TNS reporter Joshua MacDermott indicated that the Vendetta had been hit by several explosions within a minute of beginning to maneuver after emerging from the jump point, with the First Officer of the Vendetta, Able Ritcher, indicating that the Vendetta had emerged into—or moved into—a minefield of some kind. In addition to the damage inflicted by the explosions, the footage indicated that the Vendetta was being targeted with capital missiles before retreating from the system.[13]

Peace[edit]

Emissaries from the Calderon Protectorate arrived on both Taurus and New Avalon on 15 March 3080, appealing to both states for an end to the conflict between the Concordat and the Suns. The Protectorate successfully brokered a treaty between the two states on the 2nd of July, a week after Baron Kithrong stepped down as Regent-Protector so that Erik Martens-Calderon could assume the Protectorship. The treaty called for the Federated Suns to cede the Pleiades worlds to the Concordat, while the Concordat effectively surrendered the TCS Vendetta to the Calderon Protectorate, where it would be crewed by a crew of personnel from all three realms. While the treaty ended the war, the Vendetta wouldn't be formally transferred to the Protectorate until 19 April 3081.[12]

Post-Jihad[edit]

As a part of the treaty brokered between the Concordat and the Federated Suns the Vendetta was manned with a caretaker crew, none of whom had served on the Vendetta during the war, and moved into orbit over the Protectorate world of Erod's Escape. The marine contingent aboard the Vendetta was also replaced with a garrison of marines from the Protectorate, although the Protectorate marines numbered just three-quarters as many as the original Concordat marine contingent. The marine quarters freed up by the smaller marine garrison were converted into guest quarters used for housing official observers, including a number from the Republic of the Sphere. These observers would ensure that the Vendetta and its crew would honor the agreement that the Vendetta would never deploy closer to the Federated Suns border than the Pirates Haven Star Cluster. The Captain of the caretaker crew, Commodore David Percy, handed control of the ship over to its' new Captain, Rear Admiral Elias Biggs, on 19 April 3081.[14]

CPS Redemption[edit]

The TCS Vendetta was renamed the CPS Redemption and would patrol throughout the Calderon Protectorate, defending Protectorate worlds and disrupting pirate activity. These patrols continued through 3085,[15] and Federated Suns observers reported that Clan Diamond Shark has offered their services to maintain the ship.[16] How interested the Protectorate is in this proposal is unknown.

When a new system joined the Calderon Protectorate the CPS Redemption and Second Calderon Guard regiment would often serve as the first garrison force for the system.[17] These duties, and the frequent patrols of Protectorate systems, made the Redemption one of the busiest WarShips in the post-Jihad era.[18] By 3145, the Taurian and Federated Suns crews assigned to the Redemption had been recalled to their home nations, leaving the ship solely crewed by the Protectorate. The Protectorate was also solely responsible for maintaining the Redemption at this point, although the ship was both maintained and operated to only a moderate extent.[19]

As of 3152, rumors among the TDF had the Redemption relocating to guard New Vandenburg in a few years.[20]

Officers[edit]

The Captain of the Vendetta during the raid on Firgrove (and possibly before) was Commodore Maximillian Vandenburg.[13] His temporary successor was Commodore David Percy, who was subsequently replaced in April 3081 by Rear Admiral Elias Biggs of the Federated Suns navy.[14]

Notes[edit]

Despite the shared name, there is no indication this vessel is the same as RSS Redemption.[clarification needed]

References[edit]

  1. Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 52: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  2. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 53: "The Jihad in Review"
  3. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 29: "Who Was It, Really?"
  4. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 16: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  5. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 54: "The Jihad in Review"
  6. BattleCorps Scenario - Vendetta
  7. Jihad Hot Spots: 3076, p. 64: "The Thin Steel Line"
  8. Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 55: "The Jihad in Review"
  9. Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 21: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 Jihad Hot Spots: Terra, p. 22: "Timeline of the Jihad"
  11. 11.0 11.1 11.2 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 56: "The Jihad in Review"
  12. 12.0 12.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 61: "The Jihad in Review"
  13. 13.0 13.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 28: "Vendetta Vengeance"
  14. 14.0 14.1 Jihad: Final Reckoning, p. 30: "Strange Bedfellows"
  15. Field Manual: 3085, p. 145
  16. Field Manual: 3085, p. 132
  17. Era Report: 3145, p. 77
  18. Era Report: 3145, p. 123
  19. Field Manual: 3145, p. 189: "Calderon Protectorate"
  20. Dominions Divided, p. 104: "Taurian Concordat"

Bibliography[edit]