UNN Kaori

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A Phoenix Class Heavy Cruiser stationed at Neon City (Luna) dry-dock at the end of the Confederacy-Coalition war along with the UNN Dixie Lady, UNN Lightning and UNN Gargoyle.

She was one of the last of the Phoenix class Cruisers built. As a result, she saw no action in any conflict. As such, no battle flags, insignias or squadron/fleet identifiers adorned her hull and armor.

Union Service
The UNN Kaori was first added to the Naval register in November of 2019, at the very end of the Confederacy-Coalition war and the beginning of the Despaire and Bleckley County wars. This was when fighting was winding down and the military was looking at restructuring and reducing its fleet sizes. As such, the Kaori was only in active service for about a month, never reaching the front lines or seeing any action. During its short service, it was put into service with the Terra orbital defense fleet, the largest fleet the United Empire has ever constructed. After Phoenix Class Heavy Cruisers were stricken from the naval register, a small number of ships were to be preserved and maintained in dry-dock in case the need to use them ever arose. Being one of the latest ships of its line, and in perfect condition, the Kaori was chosen to be sent to the dry-dock in Neon City, Luna. There it sat, along with 3 other Phoenix cruisers for several months.

4/4/2020 attacks on Neon City & Destruction
At 1:00 AM in Neon City, Luna, elite operatives paid by the RLD staged a mock attack on a United Imperial military convoy in the outskirts of the city. This attack was headed by legendary mercenary Chuck Barton. All RLD operatives apart from Barton were killed. He was evacuated by an RLD private helicopter. This was shot down later by an F-35 Lightning II (by the name of Raptor One), with the crash resulting in Barton needing cybernetic modifications.

At 1:15 AM in Neon City, several other elite operatives paid by the RLD raided the UNN Kaori and the UNN Dixie Lady in dry-dock. After launching from the dry-docks and firing on Neon City, the UNN Dustbird, a United Imperial Key Ship, engaged them. At this moment, the attack on the convoy 15 minutes prior was intended to be a slight diversion to redirect Union resources. The Dixie Lady got the jump on the Dustbird, but the Key ship was simply far too superior and the Phoenix class' heavy cannons barely scratched the surface of its armor. The Dixie Lady then launched a dual-MAC gun strike on the Dustbird. This achieved some damage, but mostly cosmetic. Both commandeered ships were ordered to turn to starboard in order to protect the bridges of both vessels. The Kaori and Dixie Lady launched coordinated attacks utilizing automatic control of the guns. Even though this was possible, the vessels were still operating at a quarter of their capacity, without engineers, analysts, a back-up crew or manual gunners.

The Dixie Lady was heavily damaged in the opening moments of the attack. As a result, the newfound captain of the ship went to desperate measures to take down the Dustbird. Utilizing full thrust, the Dixie Lady was flown in close to the Dustbird, barely a half-mile apart, the ships barraged each other. All main guns on the port side of the Dixie Lady were taken out, but the EMP cannons were left untouched. Unbeknownst to the Dustbird, the Dixie Lady had the intention to use them. The Dixie Lady launched EMP cannon blasts, which shut down a small portion of main guns on the Dustbird.

Unfortunately for the Dixie Lady, the Key ship launched a crippling barrage the next second. In a split-second decision, the RLD captain of the Dixie Lady, ordered that they were to evacuate the ship. He then set the ship on a course to collide with the Dustbird and send it barreling into the high-rise skyscrapers of Neon City, killing millions. The captain of the Dustbird realized the intent of the Dixie Lady and ordered the bridge and all upper stations to be evacuated, then ordered the back-up crew (buried deep within the belly of the ship) to take over piloting duties. The Captain then ordered, full thrust in an opposing manner to the Dixie Lady's approach angle. As a result, the two ships collided and the Dustbird used its superior and fully-operational thrusters to slowly point the crippled Dixie Lady spiraling into the sky, away from Neon City. Land-based ultra-heavy guns and anti-aircraft turrets tore the Dixie Lady apart to minimize ground casualties from larger pieces of falling debris. Many of the Dustbird's upper cannons were now offline, but the ship was still at 75% operating capacity.

Engineers rushed and fire-fighting drones were deployed to the damaged regions of the ship, and the Dustbird turned its guns on the Kaori, who had been unsuccessfully firing its guns throughout the ordeal. F-35 Lightning IIs of 235th Marine Air Force Luna District were deployed as well. While they were former starship operators, the RLD gunners on the Kaori were not very experienced with starship weaponry. The Kaori was trying to save its two MAC rounds for engaging reinforcements, but that was before the crew came to know how strong the Key ships are. As a result of the dire situation, the Kaori fired its 2 MAC rounds. With minimum effect, the crew gave up, applying maximum thrust to launch into orbit. The Dustbird was ordered to cease fire and return to dry-dock for repairs. The same dry-dock the Kaori exited only a few minutes prior.

The UNN Kaori, captured and under the control of RLD operatives, was then ordered by United high command to be obliterated in the orbit of Luna. It was barraged by land-based ultra-heavy cannons and the UNN Spectra and UNN Meteor, 2 more Key ships.

In total, 54 civilians died on the ground from falling debris and missed ballistic weaponry, 67 Imperial military (all clones) were killed. All RLD operatives on the Kaori were killed and those that stole the Dixie Lady did escape. Using vehicles to jump from the Dixie Lady to the Dustbird while the two ships had collided. The upper deck of the Dustbird was aligned perfectly with the Loading bay 2 on the Dixie Lady. The operatives escaped once the Dustbird landed in dry-dock and the vehicles (A Chevrolet Silverado and a GMC Yukon XL) were discovered on the hull later on. In total, 24 RLD operatives were killed during the attacks.

Afterwards, the captain and crew of the UNN Dustbird along with the land-based gunnery crews were highly praised for how the situation was handled and many received the Medal of Supreme Honor and the Supreme Leader's Honor Award for Valor. Damage to Neon City and its buildings were kept to a minimum.

As for how the operatives gained access to the ships, they gained employment with the United civil service Corps. and completed all necessary training to work on cruisers, mainly due to the fact many of them were former starship crewmen themselves. They seemed to be men ejected from military service after the war, simply looking for work where they could use their prior experience, like so many others in the United Empire. No one thought twice about them. The attacks were originally orchestrated to be the first step in the RLD's plan to take over the Union. The end goal was to destroy the Dustbird, Spectra and Meteor and gain air-superiority over Neon City. Any other information about the plan has never surfaced.

The following morning the Kaori and Dixie Lady were stricken permanently from the United Imperial naval register.

Namesake
When the Kaori was added to the naval register, it was named after 'Kaori Miyazono', a character from Your Lie in April, a Japanese-style anime that was very popular in the Union at one time. While it is quite odd by American standards to name a vessel after the first name of a person exclusively, it is quite common to see in United Imperial starship squadrons.

Trivia

 * After the Kaori was destroyed, several of the reserve crewmen for the ship were assigned to the Dustbird to replace those who died in the attacks.