Antelope
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| Antelope | |
|---|---|
| Vessel Profile | |
| Type | DropShip |
| Class | Gazelle |
The Antelope was a Gazelle-class DropShip serving with the Gray Death Legion since 3051.[1]
History[edit]
Sudeten[edit]
Originally a House Kurita vessel stationed along the Free Rasalhague Republic border, the Antelope had been damaged in combat in the Clan Invasion and barely escaped by docking with a merchant JumpShip that brought them to Sudeten, where the Antelope eventually crash-landed, killing the captain and leaving the stricken ship at the mercy of the Federated Commonwealth and the mercenary unit garrisoning Sudeten—the Gray Death Legion.
The late Captain's son, John Drake, assumed command and was offered a chance to repair the ship in exchange for helping the Legion, who were being overrun by Clan Jade Falcon, to evacuate from Sudeten. Thankful that the Legion had not simply commandeered the ship, Drake and his ship threw their lot in with the Legion then and remained with them.[2]
Second Skye Rebellion[edit]
After undocking from the JumpShip Gray Skull on 1 April 3056 at the Glengarry system's nadir jump point it initially traveled towards the planet, but then witnessed the arrival of a fleet of unidentified JumpShips (the Star Lord-class Götterdämmerung and six Invader-class vessels). When the Götterdämmerung launched a Leopard CV-class vessel (the Mizar) towards the nearby Gray Skull, the Antelope's crew understood that the intruders were hostile and that they had nowhere to return to without the Gray Skull. Consequently, Lieutenant Drake decided on a suicidal attack run against the Merkur to buy the Gray Skull time to gather additional sensor data, possibly receive orders from the planet, and generally prepare their jump to escape. The Merkur and its six Lucifer aerospace fighters made short work of the Antelope, though the ship's sacrifice did in fact buy the Gray Skull critical time to make good its escape.[3]
In the last radio message from the Antelope, Drake reported loss of power and (at least) four dead, before suffering multiple additional hits from the Merkur.[4] Although this seems to suggest that the Antelope, which was listed as the Gray Death Legion's only Gazelle-class vessel as per their 3055 roster,[5] was destroyed, the unit's 3059 roster does list an (unnamed) Gazelle again[6] which may or may not be the recovered Antelope.
References[edit]
- ↑ The final battle at Hammarr spaceport on Sudeten, where the Gray Death Legion boarded their DropShips under fire, is dated 3 October 3051 in Day of Heroes, p. 47, and it is noted that the Jade Falcon fighters hounded the retreating DropShips all the way to the jump point on p. 8
- ↑ Blood of Heroes, pp. 88–89
- ↑ Blood of Heroes, pp. 84–101
- ↑ Blood of Heroes, p. 101
- ↑ Mercenary's Handbook: 3055, p. 57
- ↑ Field Manual: Mercenaries, p. 56