I’d like to thank DragonCat for letting me use these ships for my Hells Horse project.
Halcyon Class Assault Cruiser.
Following the general success of Project Zhukov from 2922 – 2932 the Horses were well on the way to recovery and despite the initial scorn of other Clans the Horses new tanks proved their worth when they staved off a Trial of Possession from Clan Smoke Jaguar for a year long production run of Elementals from the Niles Industrialplex. This clash in 2925 helped validate saKhan Yana Fletcher’s vision of how his Clan would survive and grow. Profitable trade with the Wolves and Coyotes and an inwards focus on rebuilding and surviving kept the Horses largely in the Warden political camp, but as the debates for the Invasion got more and more heated the Horses had to get involved. There was disunity in the Clan thanks to hardcore crusaders like Galaxy Commander Malavai Fletcher and his supporters who argued that the Clans should return to the Inner Sphere. The surprise appearance of the CVS Outbound Light was the final push the Horses needed.
Faced with the very real threat of an attack from within the Inner Sphere and the belief that the Federated Commonwealth was going to force a false Star League upon the Inner Sphere was intolerable and the Horses officially changed to support the Invasion.
Still, the Horses stuck by their Wolf allies and continued to build up their own forces. This closeness with the Horses, despite their supposed Crusader leanings would earn the Horses the ‘glory’ of acting as the Reserve Clan, assigned to the Wolves invasion corridor where against the Free Rasalhague Republic it was fancied that neither Clan would cover itself in glory or win much acclaim against lesser opponents.
Despite having originated as a Clan that drew many of its members from WarShip crews, the naval forces available to Clan Hells Horses in the build up to Operation REVIVAL were actually very limited. Their main combat vessel was the aging Lola III class destroyer whilst three huge Potemkin class Assault Ships were far too large and specialized to use and spent most of their time laid up ‘in ordinary’ maintained by skeleton crews.
To not have to rely on these large, expensive to crew and maintain ships, the Horses instead sought to construct a new class of WarShip as well as several new DropShips that would add to the flexibility of their Tourman.
The new ship would mass 680,000 tons and would be smaller than the Aegis class, measuring 650 meters from bow to stern. With its entirely ballistic based armament the cruiser was rather jokingly called a ‘Mini Black Lion’ and this was accurate as the ships only energy weapons was eight large pulse lasers.
Armed with a mixture of NAC-30, 35’s and a huge heavy naval gauss rifle the new Halcyon class packed a heavy punch although there was questions about the inclusion of the Naval gauss rifle in the bow. Still it did give the ship a hard hitting long range punch.
A significant point defence battery focused around missile launchers and LB-10 autocannons was also fitted as well as the aforementioned large pulse lasers. But the ships main role was not to destroy hostile WarShips but to push them aside so it could land its sizable compliment of Mechs and ground forces.
Like the much larger Nightlord class the Halcyon was designed to deploy Mech’s from low orbit onto a hostile world. It also had a large number of the brand new Pellican class transport ships that could carry any of the Horses tanks in shielded cocoons. A single Halcyon can carry a full strength Cluster including 15 Mechs, 30 tanks and 75 Elementals using its orbital drop pods and shuttles. Three DropShip Collars also allowed the cruiser to carry either the new Median, Tantalus or Kushan class DropShips as well as any other DropShip in the Horse’s inventory. Allowing it to deploy even more forces. For self defence and attack the Halcyon also carries a single Star of fighters, but it can swap out its small craft for this role if needed allowing it to carry a pair of Binaries if needs be (40 craft).
The Halcyon also boasts a huge number of marines carried onboard, with quarters for up to 275 in total, and these are not Elementals but normal infantry, although they would often be equipped with the Slepnir PA(L) armour if the ship was expected to see boarding action. These marines through sheer numbers and by dint of their superior training could defend against all but the heaviest boarding attack and could overwhelm orbital facilities or even carry out successful boarding actions against other ships.
Unfortunately to fit this firepower as well as heavy armour on a sturdy hull, the Halcyon is slow and can only match the old Aegis class ship in terms of thrust performance. Cargo space is also at a premium with just over 77,500 tons of cargo carried and the crew quarters are quite spartan and cramped but 3 100 meter grav-decks do make deployments more comfortable.
Three ships would enter service with the Hells Horses prior to Operation REVIVAL, the CHH Pillar of Autumn, CHH Spirit of Fire and CHH Forward Unto Dawn, the fourth vessel the CHH Unto the Breach would enter service in 3052 and would carry elements of the Horses to Tukkayid along with her sister ships before assisting with the withdrawl of Horse and Wolf forces from the world following the battle’s conclusion.
Armament
1 x Naval Gauss Rifle Heavy
4 x Naval AC 35
28 x Naval AC 30
8 x Laser Large Pulse (C)
40 x LRM 15+Art4 (C)
16 x AC 10 LB-X (C)
33 x AMS (C)
Aerospace compliment
10 x Fighters
30 x Small Craft
3 x DropShip Collars
Additional capacity
15 x Mechs
30 x Heavy vehicles
75 x Elementals
Class/Model/Name: Halcyon Class Assault Cruiser
Tech: Clan
Ship Cost: $19,382,084,800.00
Magazine Cost: $146,780,000.00
BV2: 101,570
Mass: 680,000
K-F Drive System: Compact with L-F Battery
Power Plant: Maneuvering Drive
Safe Thrust: 2
Maximum Thrust: 3
Armor Type: Lamellor Ferro-Carbide
Armament:
1 Naval Gauss Rifle Heavy
4 Naval AC 35
28 Naval AC 30
4 Laser Large Pulse (C)
40 LRM 15+Art4 (C)
16 AC 10 LB-X (C)
33 AMS (C)
Class/Model/Name: Halcyon Class Assault Cruiser
Mass: 680,000
Equipment: Mass
Drive: 81,600.00
Thrust
Safe: 2
Maximum: 3
Controls: 1,700.00
K-F Hyperdrive: Compact with L-F Battery (15 Integrity) 314,500.00
Jump Sail: (5 Integrity) 64.00
Structural Integrity: 80 54,400.00
Total Heat Sinks: 1626(3252) Double 1,178.00
Fuel & Fuel Pumps: 12500 points 5,100.00
Fire Control Computers: 0.00
Armor: 792 pts Lamellor Ferro-Carbide 676.00
Fore: 134
Fore-Left/Right: 133/133
Aft-Left/Right: 131/131
Aft: 130
Dropship Capacity: 3 3,000.00
Grav Decks:
Small: 3 150.00
Escape Pods: 50 350.00
Life Boats: 50 350.00
Crew And Passengers:
40 Officers in 2nd Class Quarters 280.00
141 Crew in Steerage Quarters 705.00
53 Gunners and Others in Steerage Quarters 265.00
530 Bay Personnel 0.00
275 Steerage Passengers 1,375.00
# Weapons Loc Heat Damage Range Mass
1 Naval Gauss Rifle Heavy Nose 18 300 (30-C) Extreme-C 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 35 Nose 240 700 (70-C) 8,000.00
2 Naval AC 35 Nose 240 700 (70-C) 8,000.00
2 Laser Large Pulse (C) Nose 20 20 (2-C) 12.00
5 AMS (C) Nose 5 15 (1.5-C) 2.50
2 Naval AC 30 FL 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 30 FL 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
10 LRM 15+Art4 (C) FL 50 120 (12-C) 45.00
2 AC 10 LB-X (C) FL 4 12 (1.2-C) 20.00
4 AMS (C) FL 4 12 (1.2-C) 2.00
2 Naval AC 30 FR 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 30 FR 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
10 LRM 15+Art4 (C) FR 50 120 (12-C) 45.00
2 AC 10 LB-X (C) FR 4 12 (1.2-C) 20.00
4 AMS (C) FR 4 12 (1.2-C) 2.00
2 Naval AC 30 LBS 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 30 LBS 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
4 AC 10 LB-X (C) LBS 8 24 (2.4-C) 40.00
4 AMS (C) LBS 4 12 (1.2-C) 2.00
2 Naval AC 30 RBS 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 30 RBS 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
4 AC 10 LB-X (C) RBS 8 24 (2.4-C) 40.00
4 AMS (C) RBS 4 12 (1.2-C) 2.00
2 Naval AC 30 AL 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 30 AL 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
10 LRM 15+Art4 (C) AL 50 120 (12-C) 45.00
2 AC 10 LB-X (C) AL 4 12 (1.2-C) 20.00
4 AMS (C) AL 4 12 (1.2-C) 2.00
2 Naval AC 30 AR 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 30 AR 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
10 LRM 15+Art4 (C) AR 50 120 (12-C) 45.00
2 AC 10 LB-X (C) AR 4 12 (1.2-C) 20.00
4 AMS (C) AR 4 12 (1.2-C) 2.00
2 Naval AC 30 Aft 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Naval AC 30 Aft 200 600 (60-C) 7,000.00
2 Laser Large Pulse (C) Aft 20 20 (2-C) 12.00
4 AMS (C) Aft 4 12 (1.2-C) 2.00
Aerospace/Troop compliment
10 x Aerospace fighter (4 doors)
30 x Small Craft (4 doors)
30 x Heavy Combat Vehicles
15 x OmniMechs (2 doors)
15 x Battle Armour Points (125 in total - 2 doors)
Cargo - 77,562 tons (1 door)
Ammo Rounds Mass
Naval Gauss Rifle Heavy Ammo 100 50.00
Naval AC 35 Ammo 200 200.00
Naval AC 30 Ammo 1400 1400.00
LRM 15+Art4 (C) Ammo 25600 320.00
AC 10 LB-X (C) Ammo 640 64.00
AMS (C) Ammo 19200 645.00
Pelican Class transport shuttle.
Developed as part of the Halcyon project the Pelican class Shuttle is designed to be a troop and vehicle carrier whilst having armament to support its forces on the ground and help clear a landing zone.
Able to carry up to 25 Elementals onboard as well as having hook up points for orbital cocoons that can be fitted around any tank up to 100 tons the Pelican is built to get down quickly and deploy its cargo into or near the combat zone. This saves the vehicles from having to be offloaded from a DropShip and allows them to get into combat quicker.
Whilst not too heavily armoured the Pelican can take moderate damage but it does require escorts as it is only armed for self defence and engaging forces trying to attack a Landing zone. A pair of Streak SRM-6’s and medium pulse lasers give the DropShip its main punch although some craft do replace the Medium pulse lasers with small pulse lasers for anti-infantry firepower.
Initially only built for the Halcyon class the Pelican would start entering service on other Horse WarShips as well as Clusters quickly becoming the Clan’s prime mover of heavy combat equipment. Other Clans would trial for the Craft and several variants, including ones that sacrifice their troop carrying capacity for additional cargo as well as ‘gunship’ models would also be produced and see service across Clan space.
Pelican Class Landing Craft
Base Tech Level: Standard (Clan)
Level Era
-------------------
Experimental -
Advanced -
Standard 3145+
Tech Rating: F/X-X-X-D
Weight: 200 tons
BV: 1,155
Cost: 11,678,770 C-bills
Movement: 5/8
Heat Sinks: 10 [20]
Fuel Points: 0/1080 (13.5 tons)
Tons Per Burn Day: 1.84
Structural Integrity: 8
Armor: 188 (Ferro-Aluminum)
Armor
-------------------
Nose 53
Left Side 45
Right Side 45
Aft 45
Weapons Loc Heat
-------------------------------
Medium Pulse Laser NOS 4
Medium Pulse Laser NOS 4
Streak SRM 6 LS 4
Streak SRM 6 RS 4
Ammo Loc Shots
-------------------------------
Streak SRM 6 Ammo LS 15
Streak SRM 6 Ammo RS 15
Carrying Capacity
-----------------
Battle Armor Bay (1 door) - 5 Points
Cargo Space (1 door) - 7 tons
Crew
----------------------
Officers 0
Enlisted/Non-rated 3
Gunners 1
Bay Personnel 30
