PNS Vaubon

PNS Vaubon was a Conqueror-class light cruiser of the People's Navy.

History

Unlike other ships of the People's Navy, Vaubon's command and senior staff survived the purges that swept the Navy following the establishment of the Committee of Public Safety as the new government of the People's Republic of Haven. Thus, the light cruiser remained under her original command staff during the early years of the First Havenite-Manticoran War. This included her captain, Commander Warner Caslet, and her tactical officer (and resident "tac witch"), Lieutenant Shannon Foraker, as well as People's Commissioner Denis Jourdain.

In 1907 PD, Vaubon was assigned to scout the Casca System as part of Vice Admiral Alexander Thurston's Operations Stalking Horse/Dagger, and her sensors detected the presence of five Grayson superdreadnoughts, thus confirming the success of the operation's prior distraction maneuvers. The light cruiser would go on to participate in Thurston's drive into the Yeltsin's Star System to conquer Grayson, and survived the disastrous Fourth Battle of Yeltsin's Star. (HH5)

A year later and still under Warner Caslet's command, Vaubon was sent to the Silesian Confederacy as an advance scout vessel for Admiral Javier Giscard's Task Force 29. After discovering the battered wreck of a merchant vessel attacked by Silesian pirates in the Arendscheldt System, Commander Caslet requested and received authorization to detach Vaubon from her original mission and track the pirate outfit responsible for the attack.

Vaubon's hunt yielded results when she was attacked by a pirate destroyer which the superior Havenite vessel managed to capture. From two Manticoran merchant spacers held by the pirates as prisoners, Captain Harold Sukowski and Commander Christina Hurlman, the crew of Vaubon found out that the pirates were commanded by Silesian revolutionary-turned-pirate Andre Warnecke, and that Warnecke's forces had a base in a system beyond the Confederacy's borders.

Later on, Vaubon encountered three pirate vessels which were attacking a Manticoran-flagged merchant vessel in the Schiller System. Disregarding his own standing orders to attack Manticoran shipping, Commander Caslet ordered his crew to engage the pirate vessels, destroying one of them and suffering moderate damage in return. However, Vaubon was ultimately forced to surrender when the Manticoran "freighter" destroyed the remaining pirates, revealing herself to be the Q-ship HMAMC Wayfarer, under the command of Captain Honor Harrington.

Still spaceworthy after her capture, Vaubon was put under a prize crew and sent to the Star Kingdom, with all her enlisted personnel onboard, while her senior command staff remained onboard Wayfarer until their eventual repatriation to the People's Republic. (HH6)

Known Crewmembers

Command team

• Denis Jourdain – People's Commissioner
• Commander Warner Caslet – Commanding Officer

Naval Officers

• Lieutenant Commander Allison MacMurtree – Executive Officer
• Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Commander) Shannon Foraker – Tactical Officer
• Lieutenant Ted Dutton – Communications Officer
• Lieutenant Simon Houghton – Astrogation Officer
• Dr. Jankowski – Ship's Surgeon

Marine Officers

• Captain Ray Branscombe – Commanding Officer, Marine Detachment

Marine Enlisted

• Sergeant Simonson