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Vessel Info
The Vibre-class Assault Cruiser was designed for practically one purpose, and it fulfills that purpose rather well. After the fall of the Empire, the remaining Imperial factions fractured, and their supply lines broke down with them. No longer able to rely on the mandates of a far-away Coruscant, they had to make due with the supplies that were available to them.
Amongst those "resources" was the freighter traffic of other factions, which were deemed fair game. Thus, the VAC was designed for the purpose of privateering, coming in close to their target, knocking them out of action with their heavy ion cannon, and then deploy their spacetroopers to capture the helpless vessel. All current accounts show that this ship class is extremely effective at its' designed purpose.
History
Clan Scholae Palatinae acquired the Emperor's Shield and it's sister ship, the Emperor's Sword, at the end of the Sixth Great Jedi War as part of its' well-earned spoils of war. The specialized nature of the ship class has lent itself readily towards covert privateering operations, and so it has been acting in that capacity in the outlying systems near the Outer Rim, right past Hutt space, preying off of Hutt convoys. It single-handedly was responsible for a great amount of the plunder that the Clan was able to collect and trade for the things that it needed to perform its' day-to-day operations. This changed soon thereafter.
The Yuuzhan Vong Disaster
Acting as an escort for the Excidium, the Shield was present in the Antei system for ceremonies following a Rite of Supremacy. It was then gearing up for another privateering run once the Excidium jumped out of the system when a full Yuuzhan Vong war fleet suddenly entered the system. On its' own, it interposed itself between the Clan flagship and the main incoming threat axis.
The Shield was of course ill-equipped to handle such a massive threat, and despite the sensor stealthing armor, it quickly succumbed to the withering fire of incoming coral skippers. However, the quick reaction by the crew of the Shield helped buy the Clan flagship enough time to shake off the effects of the celebrations and start effective countering fire. The Clan has placed a proper memorial for the heroic crew of the Shield in orbit above Judecca, near the floating destroyed hull of the Excidium, which itself is now serving as a honor museum.
Tactics
The Emperor's Shield and the Emperor's Sword both usually did not operate with the Clan fleet, as the specialization of the ships did not lend themselves to full-scale capital ship combat. Furthermore, despite the fact that it was called a cruiser, it was actually about 50 meters smaller than the Victory or the Palpatine's Hammer, so the ship was relatively small. With a crew of 45, it had to pick its' battles carefully.
Despite this, the Clan leadership believed in being prepared for any eventuality, and as such the Shield occasionally participated in Clan fleet operations. It, along with the Emperor's Sword and the Palpatine's Hammer were paired with the Dark Predator for either special boarding missions or flanking maneuvers. In such cases, the VAC's depended on the Dark Predator and the Palpatine's Hammer for protection until they did what they do best.
With the extremely high cost of sensor stealthing the Shield, the Clan saw potential in using the VAC's in special operation roles, to take advantage of its' stealthing. Before this could be tested, the outbreak of hostilities in the Seventh Great Jedi War prevented the Clan from pursuing this. A liability to that mission was that the crew of the Shield were all mostly new, giving them a "Green" rating. This probably doomed the ship during the Eighth Great Jedi War.