Editing Draconis Rift (Individual Kyushu-class WarShip)

{{infoBoxIndividualVessel
| image      = 
| vesselname = Draconis Rift
| prevname   = 
| type       = [[WarShip]]
| class      = [[Kyushu]]
| prevclass  = 
}}
==History==
The '''''Draconis Rift''''' was one of the four ''[[Kyushu]]''-class frigates to be undergoing shakedown trials in late [[3058]] before entering service with the black water navy of the [[Draconis Combine]] as the DCS ''Draconis Rift''. The sister ships to the ''Draconis Rift'' undergoing extensive trials at the same time were the [[Dream of Kessel|DCS ''Dream of Kessel'']], the [[Luthien (Vessel)|DCS ''Luthien'']] and [[Victory at Wolcott|DCS ''Victory at Wolcott'']], although only the ''Dreams of Kessel'' was undergoing trials in the [[Dieron]] system alongside the ''Draconis Rift''.<ref name="FM:DCp15">''Field Manual: Draconis Combine'', p. 15: "Aerospace Assets"</ref>

By [[3067]] a number of ''Kyushu''-class [[WarShip]]s had been lost in action, but the ''Draconis Rift'' continued to serve the Draconis Combine Admiralty;<ref name="FM:Up105">''Field Manual: Updates'', p. 105: "Draconis Combine Naval Assets"</ref> the ''Draconis Rift'' was one of a handful of Combine [[WarShip]]s to survive the [[Jihad]], and by [[3079]] was deployed to the [[New Samarkand]] system.<ref name="FR:DCMSp5+">''Field Report: DCMS'', pp. 5–6: "Safeguarding the Wounded Heart"</ref>

=== Second Combine-Dominion War ===
Early in the conflict, the ''Draconis Rift'' was used to transfer the [[17th Benjamin Regulars]] and [[Ryuken-roku|Ryuken-''roku'']] to the Dominion border.<ref>''Historical: Wars of the Republic Era'', p. 32</ref>

The Draconis Combine had become aware that the planet [[Rasalhague]] was only protected by the ''[[Nightlord]]''-class battleship ''[[Ursa Major]]''; [[Coordinator]] [[Hohiro Kurita (31st c.)|Hohiro Kurita]] acted on this information by dispatching a large part of the Combine WarShip fleet to attempt to kill the ''Ursa Major''. The first ship to enter the Rasalhague system was the ''Draconis Rift''. Arriving near the fifth planet in the system on the 29th of April [[3100]] before burning towards Rasalhague's moon Sigurd, the ''Draconis Rift'' was detected and pursued by the ''Ursa Major''. An hour after the pursuit began the ''Ursa Major'' was surprised by the ''[[Inazuma]]''-class corvette [[Winds of Heaven|DCS ''Winds of Heaven'']], the ''Draconis Rift''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s sister ship [[Dieron Star|DCS ''Dieron Star'']] and the ''[[Tatsumaki]]''-class destroyer [[Lair of Mighty Wyrms|DCS ''Lair of Mighty Wyrms'']] which jumped in directly ahead of the ''Ursa Major''.<ref name="H:WotREp35">''Historical: Wars of the Republic Era'', p. 35: "The Fall"</ref>

The ''Ursa Major'' attempted to retreat back towards Rasalhague to join the [[6th Valkyrie (Clan Ghost Bear)|Sixth Valkyrie Cluster]] which had launched from the surface of the planet. Intercepted by the ''Winds of Heaven'', the ''Ursa Major'' exchanged fire for ten minutes with the much lighter Combine WarShip until the ''Winds of Heaven'' retreated having suffered almost catastrophic damage from the Ghost Bear battleship. The ''Winds of Heaven'' had succeeded in delaying the ''Ursa Major'' long enough for the other three Combine WarShips to engage her. The resulting battle was savage; the ''Lair of Mighty Wyrms'' was heavily damaged before the ''Dieron Star'' was subjected to a brutal broadside that cracked her structure and detonated the ammunition magazines, causing the crew to begin abandoning ship at 1827 hours. The ''Ursa Major''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s killing strike on the ''Dieron Star'' left it open to heavy fire from the ''Draconis Rift'', and the ''Draconis Rift'' succeeded in crippling the ''Ursa Major''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s engines. The ''Lair of Mighty Wyrms'' and ''Draconis Rift'' continued to battle the ''Ursa Major'' as the [[Clan Ghost Bear|Ghost Bear]] battleship span towards Rasalhague, increasingly out of control. At 1843 hours a final strike from the ''Draconis Rift'' caused the ''Ursa Major'' to explode, the centrifugal forces involved in her death-spin preventing the battleship from launching escape pods and distributing debris from the explosion across the Rasalhague system.<ref name="H:WotREp35"/>

The ''Dieron Star'' made a close pass to Rasalhague at 1940 hours before a combination of reactor overloads and outgassing tore her apart; the Ghost Bears surveyed the remains but declared the wreck unsalvageable due to the destruction of her K-F drive and the stress damage caused to her structure. The ''Lair of Mighty Wyrms'' would fare little better than the ''Dieron Star''; having managed to retreat from the Rasalhague system, the ''Lair of Mighty Wyrms'' suffered a catastrophic jump drive failure two jumps later in an uninhabited system and was scuttled by her crew to prevent the [[Rasalhague Dominion]] from recovering her.<ref name="H:WotREp35"/>

==References==
<references />

==Bibliography==
* ''[[Field Manual: Draconis Combine]]''
* ''[[Field Manual: Updates]]''
* ''[[Field Report: DCMS]]''
* ''[[Historical: Wars of the Republic Era]]''


[[Category: Individual WarShips]]
[[Category: Individual Frigates]]
[[Category: Individual Kyushu-class WarShips]]